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THE  CONQUEST  OF  DEATH 


BY 

ABBOT  KINNEY 

AUTHOR    OF    "tasks    BY    TWILIGHT,"    ETC. 


NEW   YORK 
1893 


COPYRIGHT,   1893 
BY 

ABBOT  KINNEY 


7 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction v 

I.-^EX I 

II. — Marriage 6i 

III. — Husband  Choice 105 

IV. — Wife  Choice .119 

V. — The  Child 150 

VI. — Hints  to  the  Husband     .        .        .        .        .        .212 

VII. — A  Word  to  the  Wife 231 

VIII.— ReIvIGion 241 


INTRODUCTION. 


NBARI^Y  twenty  years  ago  the  fact  was  brought  to  my  atten- 
tion that  two  of  the  sovereign  States  of  our  Union  had  lost 
population  between  the  years  i860  and  1870.  These  States 
were  Maine  and  New  Hampshire.  The  loss  in  one  case  was  over 
six  thousand  persons,  and  in  the  other  over  sixteen  thousand.  This 
loss  occurred  in  the  face  of  a  considerable  immigration  from  Canada, 
Ireland,  etc.  It  occurred  in  two  of  our  most  intelligent  communities. 
The  two  States  named  have  indeed  increased  in  population  during 
the  last  census,  but  only  as  to  their  cities.  The  rural  population  has 
fallen  oflf  four  per  cent,  in  Maine,  and  in  Vermont  there  is  in  the 
whole  State  an  absolute  loss  of  some  four  hundred  inhabitants. 
Similar  conditions  now  appear  in  the  West.  Thirty-two  counties  of 
Illinois,  for  instance,  show  a  large  absolute  decrease  of  population. 

This  may  not  seem  alarming  without  further  knowledge  of  the 
conditions  existing  among  us.  When,  however,  we  see  items  like 
the  following  taken  from  serious  publications  : 

Instruction  in  Abortion. — The  Medical  and  Surgical  Reporter  says  that  it 
has  received  a  pamphlet  which  is  evidently  being  widely  distributed.  This 
pamphlet  offers  for  sale  a  translation  of  a  book  by  Velpeau,  in  which  instruc- 
tions may  be  found  how  to  produce  abortion  in  a  variety  of  ways,  some  of 
which  are  *'  not  known  to  the  medical  world,"  and  also  "valuable  hints  as  to 
the  best  means  by  which  evasion  of  the  law  can  be  accomplished  when  a 
physician  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  *  suspected '  of  having  been  guilty  of  the 
step." — Dec.  27,  1890. 

The  Prevention  of  Conception. — The  Detroit  Medical  and  lyiterary  Associa- 
tion recently  discussed  the  question  as  to  the  justifiability  of  preventing  con- 
ception. Almost  every  speaker  contended  that  the  practice  was  proper  and 
right,  and  many  said  that  prevention  could  be  accomplished  mechanically 
without  injury  to  either  the  man  or  the  woman.  There  were  apparently  but 
few  members  of  the  society  who  opposed  this  view,  or  at  any  rate  there  were 
but  few  who  expressed  their  opposition. — Med.  Record,  Nov.  29,  1890, 

When  we  see  in  every  daily  paper  advertisements  of  nostrums  to 
bring  on  the  menses,  or  in  other  words  cause  abortion,  and  when  we 
see  in  our  own  acquaintance  the  few  children  to  a  marriage  or  those 
totally  sterile,  we  may  well  conclude  that  American  breeding  is  not, 
as  a  rule,  done  by  its  intelligent  and  dominant  families.    A  physician 


vi  Introduction. 

of  fair  practice  in  a  popular  summer  resort  informs  me  that  in  the 
treatment  of  women  for  the  sequelae  of  recent  abortions,  these  cases 
bear  the  ratio  to  conceptions  going  to  term  of  six  to  seven.  Six  abor- 
tions to  seven  births  is  a  condition  worth  looking  into.  Reflecting 
further  that  many  abortions  are  likely  never  to  be  mentioned,  that 
prevention  of  conception  is  widespread,  and  that  our  labor  is  recruited 
from  immigration,  a  judicious  person  cannot  but  feel  that  some 
slight  increase  of  these  tendencies  will  result  in  an  extinction  of  the 
old  American  stock. 

In  France  and  Greece  the  population,  independent  of  immigration, 
is  slowly  decreasing.  Our  last  census  shows  that  we  have  come  to  a 
similar  condition.     This  condition  may  best  be  seen  by  the  following 

table : 

Increase  of  population.  Increase  from  births. 

1870  to  1880  11,598,000  8,891,000 

1880  to  1890  12,225,000  6,950,000 

There  were  consequently  2,941,000  less  births  in  the  last  decade 
than  in  the  first,  and  this,  too,  in  a  population  twenty -five  per  cent, 
larger  in  the  last  decade.  Had  the  birth-rate  been  the  same  in  the 
two  decades  we  should  have  had  an  increase  of  over  10,000,000  by 
births  instead  of  the  6,950,000  actually  noted. 

The  loss  of  population  in  a  State  like  Nevada  or  in  the  mining 
counties  of  California  may  doubtless  be  justly  attributable  to  emigra- 
tion owing  to  resource-failure,  but  such  a  cause  can  not  be  properly 
credited  in  the  face  of  a  large  immigration  as  in  New  England. 

In  a  wagon  trip  through  New  England  in  1877,  I  found  many 
farms  being  worked  by  the  Irish,  whole  districts  in  manufacturing 
towns  inhabited  by  French  Canadians,  with  French  signs  on  the 
streets,  stores,  and  houses.  I  found  the  Catholic  religion  dominant, 
where  a  few  years  before  it  was  not  to  be  found.  Children  bom  of 
the  old  American  stock  were  rare,  while  those  of  foreign  parentage 
were  numerous. 

I  made  it  a  point  to  call  on  a  physician  or  druggist  in  every 
village  I  visited,  and  to  ask  about  the  conditions  of  marriage,  child- 
birth, etc.  The  result  of  these  inquiries  was  a  unanimous  testimony 
that  American  men  and  women  of  the  old  stock  not  only  no  longer 
cared  for  large  families,  but  that  they  very  frequently  took  means  to 
prevent  having  them.  Both  acts  to  prevent  conception  and  to  cause 
abortion  in  case  of  conception  were  stated  as  general  in  every 
village  visited. 

The  impression  confirmed  in  many  cases  by  statistics  was  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  rural  communities  in  New  England  had  a 
birth-rate  too  low  to  replace  the  losses  in  the  native  stock  by  death. 


Introduction,  vii 

The  rarity  of  full-blooded  American  children,  compared  to  those 
of  foreign  parentage  in  these  communities,  was  striking.  I  was  not 
surprised  later  to  see  such  figures  as  those  of  Holyoke  in  Massachu- 
setts. In  this  old  American  town  of  6,297  minors,  but  843  were  of 
American  parentage.  The  birth-rate,  in  all  cases,  amongst  what  we 
call  the  native  population  was  decreasing,  the  marriage  rate  was 
about  stationary,  but  the  divorce  rate  and  the  death-rate  were  both 
increasing. 

In  general  conversation,  those  of  the  old  American  stock  seemed 
nearly  unanimous  in  expressing  disregard,  distaste,  or  positive  oppo- 
sition to  procreation.  They  made  no  bones  about  it.  From  the 
preacher  to  the  prostitute,  infants  were  intruders.  Progeny  was 
prevented,  destroyed,  occasionally  endured,  rarely  sought  or  wel- 
comed. The  works  of  Allen,  Clark,  etc.,  gave  some  years  ago  the 
alarming  figures  as  to  the  vital  movement  of  our  native  population 
now  familiar  to  political  economists.  In  Western  trips,  I  found  the 
same  conditions  fatal  to  the  family  growth.  In  San  Francisco,  for 
instance,  the  last  school  census  shows  a  shortage  in  the  number  of 
children  to  be  expected  in  the  total  population,  upon  calculation 
found  correct  in  general  practice. 

This  shortage  reached  the  large  total  of  14,000  children.  The 
papers  on  the  publication  of  this  fact  cried  out  ''Where  are  our 
children  ? ' '  For  a  moment  there  was  a  ripple  in  the  current,  a 
splash  of  protest,  and  on  the  people  whirl  to  destiny. 

The  testimony  is  uniform  that  this  shortage  of  children  in  San 
Francisco,  as  in  other  places,  is  nearly  all  due  to  the  absence  of 
progeny  in  American  families.  The  families  of  the  foreign-bom 
seem  to  average  up  to  the  standard.  When  we  consider  that  about 
one  third  of  the  San  Francisco  population  is  of  foreign  birth,  we  can 
perceive  some  other  relation  of  the  figures  in  that  census  that  is  still 
more  alarming  for  the  American  family.  With  a  continuance  of  the 
practices  leading  to  no  children  or  small  families,  it  cannot  be  long 
before  the  original  settler  stock  will  be  gone.  Their  intelUgence, 
self-reliance,  capacity  for  a  liberal  .form  of  self-government,  their 
religion,  and  perhaps  their  language  will  go  with  them. 

It  is  only  proper  to  state  in  connection  with  the  child  shortage  in 
San  Francisco  that  it  has  been  at- least  in  part  attributed  to  a  former 
dishonest  census.  The  fact  remains,  however,  that  the  proportion 
of  children  in  the  well-to-do  American  families  is  far  below  the 
normal.  Now  we  hear  that  in  the  last  five  years  there  have  been 
in  San  Francisco  21,000  deaths  and  only  8,000  births.  It  is  again 
proper  to  state  that  the  record  of  deaths  is  substantially  correct, 
while  it  is  certain  that  the  birth  record  is  incomplete  and  unreliable. 


viii  Introduction, 

I  have  not  even  taken  the  trouble  to  verify  the  figures,  so  little  con- 
fidence would  I  place  in  any  vital  statistics  from  San  Francisco. 

We  may  touch  casually  on  the  growing  lateness  of  marriage  and 
the  increased  proportion  of  those  who  never  marry,  and  then  take  up 
the  extraordinary  increase  of  divorce.  One  curious  investigator 
states  that  in  a  period  when  there  were  23,000  divorces  in  the  United 
States,  there  were  21,000  throughout  the  rest  of  the  world.  In 
divorce,  America  comes  first,  with  all  other  coimtries  combined  a 
poor  second — 

Se  non  ^  vero,  h  ben  trovato. 

But  while  many  of  the  records  are  incomplete  and  unreliable  as  to 
close  details  they  are  not  so  as  to  the  general  drift  of  society.  What 
the  records  stammer  out  and  what  we  have  in  official  whispers  has 
open  confirmation  in  our  social  environment.  Houses  or  rooms  to 
let  to  families — without  children, — and  families — without  children — 
advertising  this  advantage  when  seeking  houses  or  apartments,  adver- 
tisements of  sure  cures  for  suppressed  menstruation  ' '  from  whatever 
cause,"  appear  every  day  in  city  newspapers.  Married  and  single 
women  are  equally  notified  in  open  newspaper  advertisements  that 
conception — the  new-lighted  life  in  the  uterus — can  be  painlessly, 
certainly,  and  safely  done  away  with.  Every  such  notice  is  a  lie, 
but  that  does  not  matter  as  to  the  picture  of  wants  it  shows  to  exist. 
A  physician  friend  with  a  large  general  practice  tells  me  that  in 
his  time  he  has  noticed,  not  a  diminished  desire  for  children  only 
amongst  American  women,  but  a  marked  decline  in  their  child-bearing 
capacity.     His  experience  only  goes  back  eighteen  years. 

For  some  twenty  years,  fact  after  fact  has  forced  upon  me  the 
reluctantly  received  opinion  that  the  present  vital  movement  in  our 
population  can  only  eventuate  in  the  elimination  of  the  old  American 
stock  through  non-reproduction.  It  is  impossible  to  disguise  the 
fact  that  in  many  places  the  population  is  maintained  or  increased 
by  immigration,  or  by  the  children  of  recent  immigrants.  The 
fidelity  of  these  to  the  duties  of  marriage  and  to  procreation  is  largely 
due  not  to  the  reason  but  to  useful  superstition.  Intellectual  inquiry 
invites  infidelity.  Skepticism  has  no  soul,  nor  has  it  breeding  power. 
Man  must  have  a  belief  to  be  in  earnest.  The  skeptics  disappear, 
the  superstitious  survive,  but  progress  cannot  live  without  intellec- 
tual activit3^  This  is  incompatible  with  the  infallibility  demanded 
for  the  integrity  of  superstition.  So  long  as  there  is  progress,  there 
must  be  intellectual  independence.  Here  then  is  the  dilemna — 
SKEPTICISM  and  STERiiyiTv,  or  superstition  and  stagnation.  Pro- 
gress to  extermination,  or  perpetuation  of  life  without  improvement. 


Introduction.  ix 

This  problem  and  others  kindred  to  it  are  those  for  which  I  have 
sought  a  solution.  This  work  was  prepared  for  my  children. 
Interest  in  my  race  and  country  induces  me  to  make  it  public,  with 
the  exception  of  one  chapter.  I  have,  indeed,  little  hope  of  stem- 
ming the  tide  to  the  extremes  of  extermination  or  superstition  now 
running  in  the  public.  There  is,  however,  ground  to  expect  that  the 
grand  motive  of  immortality  of  the  body  instilled  into  children  may 
become  a  material  and  practical  religion  securing  reproduction,  while 
not  subject  to  the  periodic  overthrow  of  systems  based  on  the 
undemonstrable  dogmas  of  revelation. 

My  religion  of  reproduction  has  no  fight  to  make  with  those 
religions  derived  from  revelation.  It  can  live  with  or  without  them. 
Many  hypotheses  and  doctrines  are  mentioned  in  this  volume  ;  much 
advice  is  given.  Some  views  of  men  are  attacked,  some  defended. 
Doubtless,  there  is  plenty  of  error  scattered  through  the  book.  All 
these  things  are  intended  to  be  nothing  but  the  plain  truth.  Many 
of  them  are,  perhaps,  the  correct  course  for  man  to-day,  while  in  the 
future,  if  persisted  in,  they  might  bring  ruin.  What  is  truth  to-day 
may  be  error  to-morrow. 

These  various  views  are  written  merely  to  attract  attention  and 
secure  interest  in  the  object  I  have  in  view. 

They  are  all  second  and  servant  to  the  main  motive  of  the  work. 
This  is  the  necessity  of  reproduction  in  man  to  enter  any  demon- 
strable future. 

Abbot  Kinnky. 


;^ 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  DEATH 


CHAPTER  I. 

SEX. 

HUMAN  beings  are  divided  into  two  sexes,  male  and  female. 
The  difference  between  the  two  sexes  is  considerable,  reaching 
its  maximum  in  the  period  of  greatest  vitality  and  being  least  marked 
in  youth  and  old  age.  Even  before  birth  it  can  be  recognized  by  the 
heart  beats.  Those  of  the  female  foetus  average  144  in  the  minute, 
and  rarely  fall  below  135.  Those  of  the  male  foetus  average  120  in 
the  minute  and  very  rarely  go  above  130.  The  heart  beats  continue 
more  frequent  and  more  variable  throughout  life  in  the  female  than 
in  the  male. 

At  birth  and  as  the  growth  proceeds,  the  differences  of  the  sexes 
remain  well  defined,  and  at  the  age  of  puberty  and  fertility  increase. 

In  the  new-born  babe,  milk  is  sometimes  found  in  the  breast. 
Speaking  comparatively,  this  is  frequent  in  the  male  child  and  rare 
in  the  female.  (Recent  researches  indicate  little  if  any  difference 
between  the  sexes  in  this  particular. — Variot.) 

The  mammary  gland  or  breast  develops  in  the  female  into  a 
capacity  for  secreting  milk  at  the  age  of  puberty.  After  childbirth 
it  performs  this  function  common  to  the  females  of  all  mammals. 
This  milk  is  the  food  designed  by  nature  for  the  infant.  Excep- 
tional cases  of  the  secretion  of  milk  by  the  female  without  childbirth 
and  after  the  menopause  have  been  recorded.  The  secretion  of  milk 
by  the  generally  rudimentary  mammary  gland  of  the  male  have 
been  authenticated  in  a  few  instances.  This  may  be  accounted  for 
on  the  ground  that  the  male,  being  the  last  feature  of  evolution, 
must  pass  through  the  female  type.  Another  similar  indication  of 
this  is  the  minute  rudimentary  uterus  in  the  male. 

The  external  organs  of  generation  in  both  sexes  show  the  same 
development  in  the  foetus,  up  to  the  time  of  their  permanent  form  in 
the  female.  The  male  organs  continue  to  develop  beyond  this  point. 
For  the  detail  of  this  change  and  the  parts  in  the  female  which  cor- 


2  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

respond  to  those  in  the  male,  or  rather  from  which  these  grow,  see 
American  System  of  Obstetrics,  Hirst,  vol.  i.,  pp.  199  and  200. 

The  male  babe  is  also  more  difficult  to  rear  than  the  female,  and 
the  proportion  of  deaths  and  still-births  is  greater  among  them.  To 
neutralize  this  increased  death-rate  there  are  more  male  children 
born  than  female,  the  proportion  varying  between  iii  (Servia)  to 
94  (Greece)  male  to  100  female.  (Another  census  gives  Greece  1 1 1 
boys  to  100  girls.)  The  general  average  is  about  105  males  to  100 
females  in  civilized  communities.  Amongst  the  well-to-do  class  in 
cities  and  in  some  country  districts,  the  general  excess  of  male  births 
is  found  reversed,  as  in  Asiatic  Turkey.  This  is  not,  as  a  rule,  a 
favorable  sign  for  a  community,  Communities  with  an  excess  of 
female  births  are  generally  situated  unfavorably  as  to  climate, 
customs,  or  other  conditions  to  the  vigor  of  the  race.  A  point  to 
consider  in  this  connection  is  the  curious  fact  that  in  some  of  our 
Western  communities,  where  the  males  greatly  outnumber  the 
females,  there  is  found  a  tendency  to  the  production  of  a  larger  pro- 
portion, than  normal,  of  female  children.  In  Arizona  they  are 
actually  in  excess  of  the  male  infants.  We  might  think  this  due  to 
some  obscure  equalizing  process  of  nature,  were  the  same  fact  not 
true  of  lyouisiana,  Delaware,  and  North  Carolina.  After  several  very 
deadly  wars,  in  which  the  males  were  much  reduced,  notably  in  those 
almost  continuous  wars  of  Frederick  the  Great,  the  proportion  of 
male  births  became  and  remained  for  some  time  much  above  the 
normal  in  the  populations  affected.  An  abnormal  excess  of  female 
births  may  be  a  good  sign  at  one  place  or  time,  while  very  unfavor- 
able at  another. 

Amongst  savages  and  barbarians,  as  well  as  the  civilized,  there 
are  marked  differences  in  the  proportion  of  the  sexes  bom.  In 
polygamy  there  is  an  excess  of  females  bom,  in  polyandr>^  an 
excess  of  males  much  above  our  figures.  Hardship  seems  to  produce 
most  males,  and  ease  and  idleness  most  females.  Inbreeding  tends 
to  males,  and  crossing  to  females.  These  matters  and  tendencies  are 
true  of  the  higher  animals  also. 

At  birth  the  average  weight  of  a  male  child  is  7  pounds ;  of  a 
female,  6}^  pounds. 

The  male  is  taller,  heavier,  and  fiercer  than  the  female.  He  has 
a  larger  proportion  of  muscle  and  bone  in  his  weight,  while  the 
female  ^as  a  larger  proportion  of  adipose  tissue  or  fat.  Thus  a  man 
with  a  beautiful  arm  must  be  muscular  and  strong  in  that  arm.  A 
civilized  woman  with  a  beautiful  arm  may  not  be  strong.  The  lines 
of  beauty  in  the  one  are  made  by  muscle ;  in  the  other,  partly  by 
an  adipose  layer. 


Sex,  3 

The  blood  of  the  two  sexes  varies.  The  observations  of  Dr. 
Mikulicz  show  that  haemoglobin  is  present  in  the  blood  in  largest 
quantities  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  thirty  years.  It  is  at  its 
minimum  in  children  under  ten.  In  females  it  is  less  at  all  periods 
of  life  than  in  males.  It  is  always  found  reduced  in  persons  with 
tuberculosis,  syphilis,  and  malignant  tumors.  The  loss  of  blood  of 
course  diminishes  it.  In  females  during  menstruation  the  chemical 
composition  of  the  blood  changes,  and  the  carbons  are  reduced. 
After  the  climateric  women's  blood  more  nearly  resembles  men's. 

There  are  some  differences  in  the  use  of  foods.  G.  Munro  Smith 
of  Bristol  states  that  where  a  man  of  stated  weight  and  activities  eats 
nineteen  ounces  of  food,  a  woman  of  the  same  weight  and  activities 
eats  from  fourteen  to  fifteen.  In  other  words,  there  is  an  average 
difference  of  four  or  five  ounces  in  the  consumption  of  food  between 
the  sexes  of  the  same  weight  and  life.  This  would  indicate  a  better 
digestion  in  the  female,  or  an  additional  and  expensive  unformulated 
use  of  the  extra  food  in  the  male. 

The  male  uses  the  greatest  amount  of  narcotic  and  stimulant 
amongst  all  races.  Some  rational  explanation  of  the  use  of  these 
agents  is  attempted  in  an  article  of  mine  on  Diet.  The  conclusion 
arrived  at  is  that  the  general  use  of  narcotics  and  stimulants  is  due 
to  an  effort  to  escape  from  the  nerve  strain  and  pressure  consequent 
on  change  and  progress  in  society. 

The  thyroid  gland,  commonly  called  "Adam's  apple,"  is  propor- 
tionately larger  in  the  male  than  in  the  female.  The  function  of  this 
gland  is  not  known.  It  seems,  however,  to  have  some  obscure  con- 
nection with  the  intelligence,  for  its  entire  extirpation  is  usually 
followed  by  imbecility. 

The  comparative  sitting  height  of  women  is  greater  than  that  of 
men ;  that  is,  the  body  is  longer  and  the  legs  shorter  proportionately 
than  in  men. 

The  arm-stretch  more  nearly  equals  the  height  in  women  than 
in  men. 

The  knee-joint  in  women  is  characteristic.  The  articular  surfaces 
of  the  tibia  and  femur  are  narrower  and  the  patella  smaller.  Con- 
sequently a  woman's  knee,  when  bent  especially,  is  smoother  and 
rounder  than  a  man's. 

Women  have  a  superior  expectation  of  life  at  all  ages  over  men. 
Consequently  childbirth,  whatever  its  dangers  are,  is  more  than 
neutralized  by  other  conditions  favorable  to  women's  lives. 

The  articulations  and  shape  of  the  bones  are  different  in  the  two 
sexes,  being  less  suited  to  physical  and  continued  effort  in  the 
female.     In  the  woman  the  clavicle  or  collar-bone  is  quite  a  different 


4  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

shape  from  the  same  bone  in  the  man  ;  it  is  also  proportionately 
longer.  From  this  cause  all  overhand  action  is  awkward  to  the 
female.  This  seems  a  provision  of  nature  against  this  movement,  as 
it  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  for  a  pregnant  woman.  A  forcible 
overhand  movement  is  likely  to  rupture  the  membranes  and  cause  an 
abortion.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the  shape  of  the  clavicle 
varies  considerably  in  men,  and  seems  to  bear  some  relation  to  the 
amount  of  physical  exercise  performed.  Consequently,  the  difference 
in  the  shape  of  this  bone  in  the  two  sexes  may  not  be  due  entirely 
to  inheritance  of  sexual  variation.  (See  Holden's  Osteology,  p.  131.) 
The  bones  of  the  male  are  not  only  larger  than  those  of  the 
female,  but  they  are  different  in  structure.  This  difference  of  struc- 
ture has  the  effect  of  making  the  bones  of  the  male  human  being  the 
hardest.  The  bones  in  the  female  skull  are  thinner  than  those  in 
that  of  the  male.  The  shape  of  the  female  skull  is  similar  to  that 
of  the  male  child.  The  variations  in  the  skull  are  as  follows  (see 
table,  opposite  page)  : 


"  Variations  dependent  upon  age  : 

"The  proportions  of  the  skull  change  most  considerably  in  the  first  year, 
and  continue  to  change  up  to  the  fourth  year.  After  that,  modifications  are 
slight  in  amount  and  appear  more  slowly.  By  the  end  of  the  seventh  5^ear  the 
skull  has  nearly  reached  its  full  size  (see  table),  more  nearly  in  girls  than  in 
boys.  The  chief  measurements  during  childhood  are  given  in  the  table.  The 
protuberances  and  ridges  are  less  marked  in  children. 

"The  orbital  index,  i.  e.,  rates  of  height  to  width  of  orbit,  undergoes  great 
changes  during  growth.      In  young  children  it  is  100,  i.  e.,  the  height  and 


Sex. 


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The  Conquest  of  Death, 


breadth  are  equal.  In  adults  it  is  84.-6  (Weisbach),  i.  e.,  the  breadth  is  a  fifth 
greater  than  the  height.  The  naso-bregmatic  arc  is  relatively  smaller. 
Women  have  relatively  narrower  orbits  (Zuckerkandl),  corresponding  to  smaller 
frontal  lobes. 

"The  posterior  half  of  the  naso-occipital  arc  is  greater  relatively  in  woman. 
The  lambdo-occipital  arc,  indeed,  is  actually  absolutely  longer  in  woman 
(Benedikt's  figures.  See  table).  The  cephalic  index  is  greater  in  women 
(Germans),  i.  <?.,  their  skulls  are  relatively  broader.  The  empirical  greatest 
height  is  relatively  much  lower  in  women  ;  in  other  words,  women  (Germans) 
have  lower  as  well  as  broader  skulls. 

"  To  sum  up,  the  female  skull  is  larger  posteriorly,  is  broader,  lower,  with 
higher  orbital  diameter,  often  it  has  no  glabella,  no  super-glabellar  depressions, 
and  is  less  well  marked  as  to  its  ridges,  prominences,  and  sutures. 

"  Variations  as  regards  race  :" 

The  length-breadth  index  and  other  cranial  indices,  and  the  vol- 
ume, are  the  only  radical  differences  so  far  extensively  studied. 
Even  these  are  too  indefinite  factors  to  be  of  any  practical  value. 
In  general  we  may  say  that  the  Dolichocephalic  or  long-headed  races 
are  the  English,  Irish,  Scandinavians,  Negroes,  73 ;  Arabs,  74  ; 
Chinese,  76. 

"  The  Brachy cephalic,  or  broad-headed,  are  the  Germans,  81  :  Russians  ; 
Turks,  81. 

"The  Mesocephalic,  or  medium-shaped  heads,  are  the  American  Indians, 
79  ;  Hollanders  ;  Parisians,  79." 

Dolichocephaly,  or  long-headedness,  is  due  to  a  development  of 
bones  which  varies  with  age  and  sex.  In  the  infant  it  is  occipital ; 
in  the  child,  temporal ;  and  in  the  male  adult,  frontal.  In  the  woman 
it  is  always  temporal.  This  is  but  one  of  many  facts  going  to  show 
that  the  development  of  woman  is  generally  arrested  at  a  certain 
point  below  the  male,  doubtless  to  liberate  the  energies  for  the 
development  and  functioning  of  the  reproductive  organs. 

Another  instance  of  the  same  kind  is  the  nasal  index,  which  is 
greater  in  the  female  than  in  the  male  in  all  known  races.  It  is 
greater  in  the  infant  than  in  the  adult,  and  consequently  the  female, 
in  this  respect,  resembles  the  infant. 

These  details  are  presented  to  indicate  a  brain  difference  due  to 
sex,  but  no  question  of  superiority  or  inferiority  of  brain  quality  is 
pretended  to  be  shown.  In  fact,  the  whole  question  of  intellectual 
manifestation  as  related  to  brain  mass  is  in  an  unsatisfactory  condi- 
tion. Even  in  prehistoric  remains  we  find  skulls  showing  a  larger 
cubic  capacity  than  those  of  our  own  people.  One  instance  of  this 
may  be  cited  in  the  skulls  taken  from  certain  caves  in  France  to- 
gether with  stone  implements  showing  the  life  of  their  people  to 
have  been  similar  to  that  of  savages  in  our  day.  The  average  of 
these  Cromagnon  skulls  is  not  only  larger  than  our  own,  but  even 


Sex,  7 

the  skulls  classed  as  female  have  a  larger  cubic  capacity  than 
modern  male  skulls.  In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  call  attention 
to  an  unpleasant  presumption  in  regard  to  evolution.  It  is  that 
the  life  of  a  savage  hunter  and  warrior  is  such  that  close  attention, 
skilled  observation  of  nature,  self-reliance,  and  a  wide  knowledge 
of  topography  are  essential  to  existence,  and  that  brain  qualities  may 
consequently  be  better  developed  than  they  are  amongst  the  great 
mass  of  civilized  men  living  by  a  narrow  specialized  routine.  Ancient 
British  skulls  (prehistoric)  show  a  larger  cubic  capacity  than  those 
of  the  modern  English,  and  their  average  is  higher  than  all  but  a  few 
of  the  most  noted  skulls  measured. 

The  methods  of  brain  measurement  have  not  been  uniform  ;  no 
account  has  been  taken  of  age,  condition,  or  cause  of  death.  All 
of  these  things  influence  brain  weight.  These  sources  of  error  are 
great.  In  a  private  letter  to  Sir  Daniel  Wilson,  Dr.  Wyman  states 
the  cubic  capacity  of  Daniel  Webster's  skull  to  be  122  cubic  inches. 
This  is  equivalent  to  65  oz.  of  brain,  but  the  Doctor  gives  the  brain 
weight  as  53.5  oz.,  which  is  the  accepted  figure.  One  must  realize 
that  the  brain  weight  of  Daniel  Webster  in  full  health  and  at  ma- 
turity would  be  difierent  from  that  of  Daniel  Webster  old  and  dead 
after  a  waste  of  tissue  due  to  disease. 

The  noted  brain  weights  are  those  of  Cuvier,  64.5  oz.  ;  Aber- 
crombie,  63  oz.  ;  Byron,  63.5  oz.  ;  Spurzheim,  55.6  oz.  ;  Dirichlet, 
53.6  oz.  ;  Webster,  53.5  oz. 

But  these,  taken  with  measurements  by  Dr.  Peacock  of  a  sailor's, 
a  printer's,  and  a  tailor's  brain,  which  gave  from  61  to  62.75  oz., 
and  the  measurement  by  Thurman  of  the  brain  of  an  ignorant 
butcher  (62  oz.),  show  how  unreliable  brain  mass  is  as  an  indication 
of  brain  manifestation. 

The  brain  of  the  ant  is  minute,  but  its  manifestations  of  intelli- 
gence are  remarkable.  After  an  examination  into  these  matters  the 
Peabody  Report  of  '74  gives  a  good  summary  of  the  situation  as 
follows : 

'  *  All  this  goes  to  show,  and  cannot  be  too  much  insisted  upon,  that  the 
relative  capacity  of  the  skull  is  to  be  considered  merely  as  an  anatomical  and 
not  as  a  physiological  characteristic  ;  and  unless  the  quality  of  the  brain  can 
be  represented  at  the  same  time  as  the  quantity,  brain  measurement  cannot 
be  assumed  as  an  indication  of  the  intellectual  position  of  races  any  more 
than  of  individuals." 

The  thigh  bone  or  femur  is  relatively  shorter  in  women  than  in 
men.  At  the  same  time  the  diameter  of  the  thigh  is  larger  than  in 
men  ^nd  is  the  one  measurement  which  in  all  ages  is  greater  in  the 
female  than  in  the  male. 


8  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

The  angle  formed  by  the  neck  of  the  femur  with  the  shaft  is 
smaller  in  women  than  in  men  (Humphrey). 

The  neck  of  the  woman  is  longer,  the  shoulders  are  more  sloping, 
are  set  farther  back,  and  are  less  broad  than  in  the  male,  while  the 
hips  of  the  female  are  relatively  the  broader.  The  skin  is  smoother 
in  the  female. 

At  Meudon  during  the  Reign  of  Terror  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, there  was  a  tannery  of  human  skins.  The  skins  were  taken 
from  the  victims  of  the  guillotine.  In  the  course  of  this  extraor- 
dinary industry  it  was  found  that  the  skins  of  men  made  a  good 
tough  wash-leather  superior  to  chamois,  but  that  the  skins  of  the 
women  were  unserviceable  owing  to  the  softness  of  their  texture. 
The  skin,  it  must  be  said,  is  influenced  as  to  its  texture  or  toughness 
by  uses.  Whether  a  difference  in  uses  between  the  male  and  female 
victims  of  the  guillotine,  largely  aristocrats,  existed  to  such  an  ex- 
tent to  account  for  the  skin  variations  found  is  a  question. 

The  breathing  of  the  female  is  done  with  the  chest  muscles,  while 
the  breathing  of  the  male  is  performed  with  the  abdominal  muscles. 
This,  however,  may  be  partly  due  to  the  practice  of  wearing  corsets,, 
which,  by  their  constriction  of  the  abdomen,  lower  the  normal  posi- 
tion of  the  uterus  from  two  to  five  tenths  of  an  inch,  diminish  its 
natural  mobility,  push  the  vital  organs  up  on  the  lungs,  and  prevent 
the  expansion  of  the  abdomen  necessary  to  the  male  type  of 
breathing. 

Certain  examinations  of  Chinese  and  Indian  women  tend  to  con-^ 
firm  the  supposition  that  the  costal  breathing  of  women  is  thus 
caused.  On  the  other  hand,  the  experiments  on  the  women  of  civil- 
ized countries  by  Drs.  Hutchinson,  .Gibson,  and  Riegel  show  that 
the  costal  type  of  breathing  commences  in  our  females  at  about  the 
tenth  year,  and  before  they  wear  corsets  at  all. 

These  experiments  go  to  show  that  whatever  the  type  of  breath- 
ing of  women  originally  was,  in  civilized  women  it  has  come  about 
the  age  of  puberty  to  be  costal,  and  they  give  some  reason  to  think 
that  this  is  the  case  irrespective  of  the  corset. 

The  costal  type  of  breathing  is  the  only  safe  way  for  civilized 
women  to  breathe  during  pregnancy.  It  may  be  surmised  that  the 
difiiculties  of  reproduction,  increasing  with  progress,  have  forced  this 
type  of  breathing  generally  upon  the  higher-race  women.  Vierodt 
in  his  Physiology  of  Childhood  shows  that  the  sex  of  a  child  may  be 
determined  at  the  tenth  year  by  the  breathing  alone.  In  the  male 
it  is  deeper  and  more  regular. 

According  to  the  recent  investigations  of  Dr.  Masge  of  Zurich 
(1888),  the  radiation  of  heat  from  the  skin  was  found  to  be  more  in- 
tense in  men  than  in  women,  in  boys  than  in  girls,  in  young  persons 


Sex.  9 

than  in  old,  and  in  the  vigorously  healthy  than  in  the  feeble,  or 
those  convalescing  from  illness. 

The  average  woman  can  withstand  the  cold  of  surf  bathing 
longer  than  the  average  man.  At  a  seaside  resort  muoh  frequented, 
the  male  companions  of  the  female  bathers  may  be  observed  every 
day  in  the  season,  cold,  blue,  and  shivering,  while  the  women  are  in 
full  enjoyment  of  the  bath  and  not  at  all  cold.  Whether  this  female 
superiority  is  due  to  a  smaller  radiation  of  heat  or  to  the  adipose 
layer  which  all  normal  women  have  under  the  skin,  or  a  combination 
of  both,  is  not  known. 

The  average  lung  capacity  of  the  male  in  America  is  ninety  cubic 
inches  greater  than  that  of  the  female  (Sargent).  In  England, 
eighty-one  cubic  inches  (Galton).  "The  female  also  exhales  less 
carbonic  acid  relative  to  the  weight  than  man,  showing  that  the 
evolution  of  energy  is  relatively  less,  as  well  as  absolutely  less,  in 
women"   (Sargent). 

The  step  of  the  woman  averages  twenty  inches ;  that  of  the  tnah 
twenty-five  inches.  The  woman  turns  her  feet  out  more  than  the  man, 
an  action  unfavorable  to  rapid  motion  (Dr.  Gille  de  la  Tourette). 

The  growth  of  the  pelvis  in  the  female  about  the  age  of  puberty 
throws  the  articulation  of  the  femur,  or  the  thigh  bone,  out  farther 
than  it  is  in  man,  inclining  the  knees  together.  This  peculiarity 
again  makes  rapid  movement  more  difiicult  than  it  is  with  the  male, 
and  is  opposed  to  long  standing.  Both  of  these  acts  would  be  in- 
judicious in  a  pregnant  woman. 

Women  generally  button  from  right  to  left  and  men  from  left  to 
right.  The  drawing  of  circles  for  the  two  sexes  usually  follows  the 
same  opposition. 

The  senses  are  less  acute  in  women  than  in  men.  Women  can 
neither  see,  hear,  taste,  nor  smell  so  well  as  men.  In  the  recent  ex- 
periments of  Nichols  and  Bailey,  the  sense  of  smell  was  found  to 
cease  at  the  following  dilutions  : 

MAI,ES.  FEMAI,ES. 

Cloves,         .           I  part  in  88.128  i  part  in  •  .         50.667 

Nitrite  of  am yl,      i    "     "  783.870  j     «<     ««  311.330 

Extract  of  garhc,   i    "     *'  57-927  ^     <<     «<  43.900 

Bromine,         .         i    <<     ««  49.254  j     «<     <<  16.244 

Prussic  acid,            i    "     "  112.000  j     ««     «<  18.000 

Prof.  Caesar  lyombroso  has  made  experiments  which  show  women 
to  have  a  keener  sense  of  smell  than  men,  but  to  have  a  much  less 
delicate  sense  of  touch  or  of  pain.  Here  is  the  Medical  Record's 
summary  of  his  article  : 

THE  INSENSIBII^ITY  OF  WOMEN. 

Professor  Caesar  Lombroso  contributes  to  the  Fortnightly  Review  an  arti- 
cle on  the  insensibility  of  women,  in  which  he  reaches  some  rather  novel  con- 


lo  The  Conquest  of  Death, 


elusions.  Professor  Lombroso  states  that  accurate  studies  as  to  the  relative 
sensibility  of  woman  as  compared  with  man  have  never  been  made.  He  has 
himself  tested  the  delicacy  of  the  sense  of  touch,  pain,  general  sensibility 
whatever  that  may  mean),  smell,  and  taste  in  one  hundred  women  and  men. 
He  finds  that  the  tactile  sense  in  men,  as  measured  by  the  sesthenometer,  aver- 
ages about  1.6  mm. ;  in  women  of  the  lower  classes  it  is  2.6,  of  the  higher  classes,  2 
mm.  The  sense  of  pain,  tested  by  the  electrical  algometer,  is  in  young  men 
64,  in  older  men,  78  mm.  ;  in  young  women,  53,  and  in  older  women,  70  mm. 
In  other  words,  the  sensibility  to  touch  and  pain  is  less  in  women.  Smell  and 
taste  are  rather  keener  in  women.  He  does  not  speak  of  those  most  import- 
ant of  all  the  senses,  sight  and  hearing.  Lombroso  states  that  he  has  been  in- 
formed by  surgeons  that  women  show  greater  insensibility  and  less  shock  from 
the  pain  of  surgical  operations.  Their  lesser  degree  of  sexual  sensibility  is 
generally  admitted  ;  their  inferior  moral  sensitiveness  is  accepted  as  a  fact  by 
I/ombroso.  It  would  probably  be  denied  by  most  women,  as  well  as  by  many 
of  their  chivalrous,  if  not  scientific,  admirers.  The  supposed  lesser  sensibility 
of  women  is  thought  to  be  one  reason  for  their  greater  longevity. 

These  contradictions  are  certainly  unsatisfactory^ 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  said  that  women  make  excellent  astronom- 
ical observers.     Miss  Maury  at  Harvard  is  a  notable  instance  of  this. 

The  voices  of  the  sexes  distingush  them  from  each  other,  the 
voice  of  the  woman  being  pitched  higher  than  that  of  the  man. 
That  of  the  male,  in  early  life  of  the  same  type  as  the  female, 
changes  at  the  age  of  puberty  and  becomes  gruffer  and  more  forcible 
in  its  tones. 

The  hair  grows  differently  in  the  two  sexes.  The  woman  has,  as 
a  rule,  little  hair  except  on  the  scalp  of  the  head,  about  the  pubic 
region,  and  a  little  under  the  arms.  With  the  man  the  hair  grows 
also  on  the  face  and  often  on  the  arms,  legs,  and  breast.  The  beard 
enables  a  man  to  hide  his  emotions,  while  Nature  makes  no  provi- 
sions for  woman  in  this  respect. 

I  am  informed  by  several  professors,  having  charge  of  the  higher 
education  of  our  universities,  where  co-education  has  been  intro- 
duced, that  there  is  a  difference  in  the  aptitudes  of  the  two  sexes. 
The  men  are  more  progressive  and  the  women  more  diligent.  The 
men  excel  in  mathematics,  and  the  more  abstruse  studies,  while  the 
young  women  are  stronger  in  the  languages  and  in  literary  studies. 
Some  of  the  young  lady  graduates  confirm  this  view.  In  Cam- 
bridge, England,  a  number  of  remarkable  instances  of  female 
capacity  in  mathematics  have  been  recorded. 

Professor  Jastrow  has  made  some  interesting  experiments  in  the 
mental  differences  of  the  two  sexes.  Amongst  them  one  in  which  he 
took  25  men  and  25  women  out  of  a  class  in  psychology  and  got 
them  to  write  as  rapidly  as  possible  the  first  hundred  words  that 
occurred  to  them. 


Sex.  1 1 

The  women  used  1123  different  words,  the  men  1376.  The 
women  wrote  520  words  occurring  but  once  in  the  list,  and  the 
men  746. 

In  the  civil-service  examinations  about  one  half  of  all  candidates 
pass,  but  of  the  female  candidates  four  fifths  pass.  This  shows 
either  that  the  females  are  more  industrious,  of  a  superior  class,  or  of 
larger  capacity. 

Professor  Jones,  of  the  University  of  California,  a  bright  and  ob- 
servant man,  has  been  unable  to  notice  any  difference  in  the  average 
of  the  standing  of  the  sexes  in  any  study.  The  views  of  this  pro- 
fessor may  be  summarized  as  follows  : 

The  strongest  minds  without  exception  are  amongst  the  males. 

The  average  standing  of  the  sexes,  however,  is  about  the  same. 

The  women  seldom  select  the  scientific  or  mathematical  courses. 

The  women  students  come  of  their  own  will,  somewhat  against 
the  fashion,  with  a  keen  desire  to  obtain  the  university  education. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  men,  in  many  instances,  come  without  inter- 
est, sent  by  parents  to  conform  to  custom.  Therefore  the  women  are 
a  picked  class  in  the  university,  and  must  be  for  some  time  yet.  There 
seems  to  be  no  more  demonstrated  tendency  in  the  female  university 
students  at  Berkeley  against  marriage  and  child-bearing  than 
amongst  the  well-to-do  classes  generally. 

It  might  be  surmised  that  the  knowledge  acquired  by  these  young 
women  should  improve  their  view  of  marriage  and  maternity  enough 
to  counteract  the  increased  strain  on  their  nerves  and  consequent  di- 
minished capacity  for  reproduction.  It  must  be  admitted,  however, 
that  a  full  university  course  postpones  marriage  and  tends  to  make  it 
come  dangerously  late.  The  girl's  chances  with  such  postponement 
must  be  diminished,  and  one  would  infer  that  she  would  be  less 
likely  to  marry,  both  on  account  of  her  age  and  on  account  of  the 
high  standard  she  is  likely  to  set  for  her  husband. 

In  the  Seventeenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics  an  examination  is  made  of  the  condition  of  the 
graduates  of  female  colleges  from  New  England  to  Kansas.  This 
examination  must  give  cause  for  considerable  reflection  to  the 
judicious. 

The  histories  of  705  graduates  of  female  colleges  are  tabulated  in 
the  report.  The  average  age  of  the  705  is  28.58  years,  or  several 
years  more  than  the  average  age  at  which  women  marry. 

Of  the  705  at  this  average  post-marital  age,  509,  or  72. 2 per  cent., 
were  still  single  ;  196,  or  27.8  per  cent.,  were  married.  The  average 
duration  of  the  married  life  of  these  was  6. 7  years,  or  sufiiciently  long  to 
indicate  the  fertility  of  the  marriage.     Of  these  196  married  ones,  130 


12  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

had  children  and  66  had  none.  In  other  words,  almost  half  of  the 
marriages  were  still  absolutely  sterile.  The  196  had  263  children,  of 
whom  232  were  alive,  or  an  average  of  one  living  child  and  thirteen 
hundreths  of  a  child  per  marriage. 

Of  the  705,  417  report  suffering  from  disorders.  Of  these  disor- 
ders, 137  were  of  the  nervous  system,  26  of  the  urinary  organs,  and 
112  of  the  generative  organs,  or  a  total  of  275  disorders  especially 
inimical  to  child-bearing. 

In  looking  over  the  returns  and  the  comments,  one  is  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  the  graduates  are  desirous  of  leaving  a  favorable 
impression  of  the  results  of  female  education.  These  facts,  when 
properly  sifted,  are  far  from  doing  this.  At  the  same  time,  it  seems 
fair  to  say  that  these  figures  show  that  the  college  life  itself  has  had 
no  generally  unfavorable  effect  upon  the  health  of  the  graduates. 

In  estimating  the  value  of  the  marriage-  and  birth-rate  amongst 
these  highly  educated  young  women,  we  must  bear  in  mind  a  fact 
also  set  forth  in  the  Reports  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  Sta- 
tistics. It  is  that,  as  a  rule,  fertility  diminishes  in  Massachusetts 
with  the  ability  to  care  for  children.  Thus  the  average  number  of 
those  dependent  on  the  wage-earner  is  3.08  persons,  while  the  num- 
ber of  those  dependent  on  the  salaried-class  individual  averages  2.64. 
The  marriage-rate  is  also  smaller  in  the  salaried.  The  family  of  the 
well-to-do  class  is  still  smaller  than  either  of  the  above,  and  in  some 
districts  of  native  Americans  the  birth-rate  is  one  insuring  prompt 
extermination. 

It  may  therefore  be  that  the  birth-rate  of  these  nearly  twenty-nine- 
year-old  collegians  is  only  the  generally  fatal  and  exterminating  one 
of  those  into  whose  aims,  ambitions,  and  beliefs  their  education 
brings  them. 

I  am  informed  that  there  is  a  society  of  female  graduates  keep- 
ing a  record  of  the  post-graduate  life  of  each  member  of  the  society, 
which  must  be  very  valuable  and  become  more  so  every  year.  I 
have,  however,  been  unable  to  obtain  this  record. 

The  vital  statistics  of  England,  as  worked  out  by  Galton,  show 
that  it  requires  an  average  of  six  children  to  a  marriage  to  maintain 
the  population  of  England  stationary.  It  requires  an  average  of 
four  children  to  a  marriage  to  perpetuate  two  lives  continuously  in 
reproduction.  In  other  words,  counting  those  who  do  not  marry, 
those  who  are  sterile,  together  with  the  deaths  before  maturity,  it 
requires  six  children  to  a  marriage  to  maintain  the  population  of 
England.  Counting  the  chances  of  death,  impotence,  sterility,  or 
celibacy  an  average  of  four  children  are  required  for  the  perpetua- 
tion of  two  lives.     When  we  find  that  the  number  of  children  to  a 


Sex,  13 

marriage  amongst  intelligent  Americans  in  many  parts  of  this  coun- 
try is  insufficient  to  perpetuate  even  those  married,  and  that  the  un- 
married are  largely  confined  to  this  class,  we  cannot  but  fear  that 
the  present  so-called  higher  system  of  education  of  women  is  fatal  to 
the  best  interests,  nay  even  to  the  life,  of  the  race. 

We  have  now  two  extremes  of  women  in  our  society  :  the  highly 
educated  woman,  who  becomes  a  writer,  painter,  teacher,  lecturer, 
actress,  etc. ,  on  the  one  hand ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  mistress  or  prosti- 
tute. The  first  class  comprising  the  best  educated  (?)  and  probably 
the  best  minds  of  American  women  ;  the  second  class  comprising, 
amongst  the  poorer  classes  at  least,  the  most  beautiful  physiques. 

Both  classes  do  not,  as  a  rule,  breed.  Both  classes  are  growing 
faster  than  the  population.  Thus  we  are  losing  our  best  minds  and 
most  beautiful  bodies  in  women  through  sterility. 

What  will  Americans  be  in  another  generation,  or  will  there  be 
any  of  the  old  stock  ? 

While  infertility  is  frequent  in  the  highly  educated,  it  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  them.  Quiet  reflection  on  the  facts  will  bring  to 
us  the  realization  that  infertility  both  natural  and  artificial  is  due  to 
causes  independent  of  college  curriculums.  But  such  a  realization 
need  not  blind  us  to  the  probable  cumulative  influence  toward  sterility 
of  an  education  of  women  not  in  harmony  with  their  functions  or 
duties  to  the  race. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  adaptability  of  young  women  to  a  col- 
lege course,  as  shown  in  their  successes  at  Cambridge,  Berkeley,  etc., 
indicates  forcibly  that  the  home  influences,  to  which  they  were  more 
subject  than  boys,  are  in  no  way  unfavorable  to  subsequent  success  in 
study. 

The  fashion  of  sterility  and  child  limitation,  now  so  widespread, 
may  in  the  end  be  cured  by  a  higher  education  of  women.  It  may 
in  fact  be  curable  in  no  other  way.  Certainly,  a  high  and  true  edu- 
cation in  harmony  with  nature  ought  not  to  produce  any  disinclina- 
tion to  the  highest  function  of  humanity — creation.  No  less  eminent 
authority  than  Sir  W^illiam  Gull  of  Great  Britain  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  the  benefit  derived  from  a  university  education,  such  as  girls 
get  at  Newnham  and  Girton,  makes  them  and  their  children  stronger 
and  healthier  ;  also  that  the  percentage  of  childless  marriages  is 
less  with  the  educated  women,  and  the  percentage  of  children  that 
survive  infancy  is  larger. 

This  opinion  of  an  eminent  man  may  or  may  not  be  correct, 
but  it  is  encouraging.  My  own  observation  is  that  the  best  mothers, 
and  those  realizing  and  glorying  in  the  grandeur  of  procreation,  are 
women  of  large  capacity  and  wide  information. 


14  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

Recent  examination  of  class  histories  of  both  males  and  females 
force  me  to  the  unwilling  conclusion  that  the  higher  education,  as 
exemplified  in  university  graduates,  is  sterilizing  in  both  sexes. 
One  of  the  male  classes  had  a  history  covering  fifty  years,  and  showed 
a  procreative  power  too  small  to  maintain  the  orginal  number  of  the 
class  and  the  wives  of  such  as  married.  Whether  this  showing 
would  be  different  from  that  of  an  equal  number  of  lives  in  the 
superior  ranks  without  university  training  is  not  within  my  power 
to  say,  but  in  any  case  it  is  a  very  unfavorable  showing  for  our 
educational  system.  The  female  classes  show  the  greatest  sterili- 
zation. 

It  has  been  generally  remarked  that  women,  when  allowed  the 
opportunity,  are  more  devoted  to  religious  forms  than  men,  and  ad- 
here to  such  forms  long  after  men  have  lost  interest  in  them,  as  is 
the  case  in  society,  when  the  development  of  institutions  becomes  un- 
suited  to  the  religious  forms.  Women,  also,  run  from  conservatism 
to  the  extreme  of  radicalism  more  frequently  than  men.  The  scenes 
of  the  French  Revolution  and  the  later  French  Commune,  the  ac- 
counts of  the  saints  in  the  overthrow  of  old  religions,  or  in  the  sup- 
port of  orthodox  ideas,  our  own  experience  with  slavery,  temper- 
ance, etc.,  almost  invariably  show  the  women,  when  associated  in  a 
movement,  either  at  one  extreme  or  the  other. 

In  the  woman,  as  a  rule,  we  find  that  the  emotions  dominate  the 
reason,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  generally  that  the  civilized  female,  when 
mature,  has  motives,  emotions,  and  reason  more  like  those  of  the 
child  or  of  primitive  man  than  has  the  male. 

It  is  claimed,  and  with  strong  color  of  reason,  that  these  character- 
istics of  the  sex  are  the  product  of  the  conditions  in  which  they  have 
lived  from  time  immemorial.  We  may  admit  this  without  abandon- 
ing a  conservative  position  in  face  of  the  extraordinary  changes 
proposed  in  sex  relationships,  and  for  that  matter  already  largely 
prevalent. 

The  condition  of  the  polyandrous  Thibetan  woman  is  superior. 
She  dominates,  as  a  rule,  her  husbands.  The  Thibetan  civilization, 
however,  is  a  failure. 

So  it  is  with  other  present  communities  with  the  female  dom- 
inant. In  the  past  we  find  a  number  of  records  of  women  taking 
activities  different  from  what  the  old  fogies  think  wise,  but  we  find 
no  case  where  the  type  of  civilization  thus  ordered  was  perpetuated. 

The  pulse  is  more  rapid  and  irregular  in  woman  than  in  man. 
The  average  weight  of  the  adult  American  man  is  141  1-2  lbs.  ;  of 
the  adult  American  woman  124  1-2  lbs.  These  figures  are  not  from 
complete  examinations  but  from  partial  examinations  of  a  number 


Sex. 


15 


of  men  and  women  in  similar  conditions  of  life,  and  may  be  considered 
to  approximate  the  truth. 

Sargent's  figures  for  America  are  different  and  make  the  male  ex- 
ceed the  female  by  21.5  lbs.,  while  Galton's  English  figures  give  the 
difference  as  22  lbs.     The  relative  difference  in  height  of  the  sexes 


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**  In  order  that  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  physical  condition  of  women, 
I  shall  first  compare  the  physical  condition  of  girls  with  that  of  boys  of  the 


i6 


The   Conquest  of  Death, 


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boys'  chart.  When  the  mean  measurements  of  the  girls,  however,  are  plotted 
on  the  boys'  chart,  they  fall  at  the  points  indicated  by  the  irregular  full  line 
(Chart  i),  and  the  mean  measurements  of  the  boys  fall  on  the  girls'  chart  at 
the  points  indicated  by  the  broken  line  on  the  same  chart. 

"  In  following  the  two  lines  on  the  chart,  some  interesting  facts  are  brought 
to  light.     We  find  that  at  the  age  of.  fifteen  the  mean  weight  of  the  girls  and 


Sex,  ly 

boys  is  the  same.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  the  girl  is  heavier  and  taller  thaa 
the  boy  of  the  same  age.  It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
the  boys  exceed  the  girls  in  height  about  three  quarters  of  an  inch.  The  height 
of  the  knee  is  only  a  trifle  lower  than  that  of  the  boys,  while  the  sitting 
height  of  the  girls  is  actually  greater  than  the  mean  sitting  height  of  the  boys. 
How  then  shall  we  account  for  the  superior  total  height  of  the  boys  ?  In  look- 
ing on  the  chart  for  the  height  of  the  pubic  arch  in  girls  we  find  it  on  the  25 
per  cent,  line  of  the  boys'  chart.  This  means  that  75  per  cent,  of  the  boys  sur- 
pass this  measurement,  while  only  60  per  cent,  of  them  surpass  the  mean  total 
height  of  the  girls.  The  diflference  in  height,  then,  is  due  to  the  shortness  of 
the  bones  below  the  pelvis.  I  have  already  shown  that  the  height  of  knee  is 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  boys,  so  we  must  look  to  the  comparative  shortness 
of  the  thigh  bone  in  girls  to  account  for  the  difference  in  stature.  Although 
the  body  length  in  girls  is  greater  than  that  in  boys,  the  difference  as  shown  by 
the  sitting  height  is  largely  due  to  the  greater  length  of  neck  and  head  in 
^irls,  as  shown  by  the  superiority  in  boys  in  the  height  of  the  sternum. 

'*  In  girths  the  differences  are  more  marked,  the  mean  girth  of  head  in  the 
girls  being  only  about  \  of  an  inch  below  that  of  the  boys,  while  the  neck  is 
about  f  of  an  inch  smaller.  There  is  but  little  difference  in  the  natural  chest 
of  the  two  sexes  at  this  age.  The  boys,  however,  show  a  superior  expansive 
power  when  the  chest  is  inflated.  In  the  girth  of  waist  the  measurement  of 
the  girls  is  i^  inch  smaller  than  that  of  the  boys,  while  the  girth  of  the  hips  is 
if  inch  larger.  The  greatest  difference,  however,  is  in  the  girth  of  the  thighs. 
Here  the  actual  measurements  exceed  that  of  the  boys  by  two  inches,  while 
the  relative  difference  is  much  greater.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  mean 
girth  of  the  knee  is  the  same  in  both  sexes,  but  that  the  girth  of  the  calf  is  f  of 
an  inch  greater  in  the  girl.  In  the  bone  measurements,  as  indicated  by  the 
instep,  elbow,  and  wrist,  the  superiority  of  the  boys  becomes  more  manifest. 
There  is  but  a  slight  difference  in  the  girths  of  the  upper  arm,  but  the  right  arm 
of  the  boys  is  \  of  an  inch  larger  than  the  left.  This  makes  the  left  arm  of  the 
girl  appear  larger  than  the  right,  though  both  are  of  the  same  size. 

"  At  the  time  these  measurements  were  taken,  the  depth  of  the  chest  and 
abdomen  had  not  been  added  to  the  list,  and  have  consequently  been  omitted 
in  the  plotting.  The  difference  in  the  mean  measurements  of  the  breadth  of 
the  head  and  neck  is  less  than  \  of  an  inch  for  each  part.  The  shoulders  of 
the  boys  are  about  f  of  an  inch  wider  than  the  shoulders  of  the  girls,  while 
the  hips  of  the  girls  are  f  of  an  inch  broader  than  those  of  the  boys.  The 
actual  difference  in  the  breadth  of  the  waist  in  the  two  sexes  is  quite  marked. 
Even  at  this  age  the  girls'  waist  is  f  of  an  inch  narrower  than  the  boys'. 

"The  relative  difference  between  breadth  of  waist  and  breadth  of  hips  of 
the  girls  is  greater,  when  compared  with  the  same  measurements  of  the  boys, 
than  the  relative  difference  between  the  breadth  of  waist  and  breadth  of 
shoulders  in  the  two  sexes. 

"The  length  of  upper  arm  of  the  girls  is  about  \  of  an  inch  less  than  that 
of  the  boys,  while  the  forearm  and  hand  is  f  of  an  inch  shorter.  In  length  of 
foot  the  boys  have  the  start  of  the  girls  at  this  age  by  over  ^  inch,  and  in  stretch 
of  arms  by  fully  two  inches.  The  girls  compare  less  favorably  with  the  boys 
in  the  point  of  strength.  In  capacity  of  lungs  the  girls  are  seventy  cubic 
inches  behind  the  boys,  and  in  the  strength  of  expiratory  muscles  the  weakest 
boys  in  the  5  per  cent,  class  are  stronger  than  the  average  girl.     In  strength 


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Sex. 


19 


of  back,  legs,  chest,  and  arms  the  showing  is  a  little  better  for  the  girls,  though 
considerably  below  what  it  should  be. 

"  It  will  be  seen  that  the  mean  strength  test  of  the  girls  falls  below  the  10 
per  cent,  line  of  the  boys'  table,  while  the  mean  strength  of  the  boys  exceeds 
the  90  per  cent,  line  on  the  girls'  table.  This  indicates  that  50  per  cent,  of  the 
girls  fail  to  reach  a  point  in  strength  that  is  surpassed  by  90  per  cent,  of  the 
boys." 

The  investigator  was  not  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  male,  as  the 
following  sentences  will  show  : 

"  In  taking  the  sum  of  certain  important  measurements  such  as  the  head, 
chest,  waist,  legs,  and  arms,  we  find  that  the  mean  total  of  the  girth  dimen- 
sions of  these  parts  in  the  girls  is  equal  to  that  of  the  boys.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  regard  the  sum  of  these  measurements  as  indicative  of  the  potential 
strength  of  the  individual." 

"  Why,  then,  is  not  the  girl  of  this  age  equal  to  her  brother  in  strength, 
activity,  and  endurance?" 

As  age  increases  the  measurements  change  and  the  man  forges 
ahead.  At  full  maturity  he  exceeds  the  female  in  every  measure- 
ment except  the  diameter  of  the  thigh.  Proportionately,  however, 
the  woman  exceeds  the  man  in  breadth  of  hip. 

At  about  twelve  years  of  age  the  two  sexes  average  nearly  the 
same  weight.  This  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  at  about  the  age  of  puberty 
a  rapid  increase  of  weight  takes  place  in  each  sex  ;  the  girl,  reaching 
puberty  first,  for  a  short  time  about  equals  the  male  in  weight. 

In  America  at  thirteen  the  girl  is  taller  and  heavier  than  the  boy, 
at  fifteen  the  boy  is  taller  by  three  quarters  of  an  inch,  while  the  girl 
is  still  the  heavier  ;  after  this  the  boy's  physical  larger  size  becomes 
rapidly  more  marked. 

The  female  matures  physically  and  mentally  sooner  than  the 
male. 

We  see,  for  instance,  boys'  parts  in  plays  almost  invariably  taken 
by  girls.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  this  fact  is  due  to  the  compara- 
tive incompetency  of  the  boys  at  any  of  the  early  ages  for  such  work. 

At  an  age  varying  between  the  sexes,  and  also  varying  with  cli- 
mate, with  city  or  country  residence,  with  race  and  with  occupation, 
comes  the  age  of  puberty. 

It  is  at  this  time  that  the  powers  of  reproduction  develop  in  each 
sex.  The  female  reaches  this  period  from  one  to  three  years  sooner 
than  the  male,  and  loses  the  reproductive  power  much  earlier. 

At  the  age  of  puberty  the  constitution  is  in  a  semi-confusion  con- 
sequent upon  the  change  of  balance  of  powers  to  be  maintained. 
New  ideas,  new  blushes,  new  yearnings  come  to  both  sexes.     It  is  a 


20  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

time  when  great  care  is  required  for  the  mental,  physical,  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  individual.  The  girl  at  this  period  develops,  rounds 
out,  and  becomes  more  peculiarly  feminine  than  before.  The  boy 
changes  still  more  in  the  other  direction.  The  beard  commences  to 
grow,  the  voice  changes  its  timbre,  and  becomes  rougher,  and  the 
body  takes  a  new  development  of  height  and  weight. 

The  system  in  the  Bast  of  making  eimuchs  of  the  boys  prevents 
these  sexual  changes.  In  eunuchs  the  character  is  as  mutilated  and 
incomplete  as  the  body.  The  spayed  female  also,  if  young,  never 
progresses  in  female  characteristics.  If  mutilated  when  older,  there  is 
sometimes  a  tendency  in  voice,  beard  growth,  etc. ,  to  the  ^ale  type. 

Sex  is  an  evolution  presumably  necessary  for  the  highest  forms  of 
life.  lyife  in  its  most  primitive  conditions  has  no  sex, — reproduction 
is  by  division.  Then  we  find  an  added  germ  type  evolved — still 
without  sex,  the  main  reproduction  continuing  by  division  ;  then 
comes  the  next  step,  a  budding  process  by  which,  as  in  corals,  the 
renewed  life  buds  out  of  the  old  ;  then  a  condition  of  sex,  but  both 
sexes  in  the  same  individual,  as  is  still  the  case  with  most  plants ; 
and  lastly  the  sex  separation  of  the  individuals,  with,  however, 
many  of  the  primitive  types  temporarily  asexual  in  reproduction  by 
parthenogenesis.  Each  step  finds  a  place  for  a  higher  life.  Sex  is 
not  to  be  obliterated  nor  assimilated,  but  further  difierentiated  if  the 
same  path  of  progress  is  to  be  followed.  Whether  the  male  or  female 
is  superior,  is  a  question  of  naught.  Which  should  do  the  outside 
fight  for  life  and  subsistence,  is  important. 

The  fact  noted  by  Darwin  of  the  tendency  in  the  hen  when  too 
old  to  breed  to  vary  toward  the  male  type  in  hackles,  comb,  and  dis- 
position, is  a  suggestion  that  there  is  a  type  for  each  kind  of  life,  from 
which  the  necessities  of  reproduction  and  the  perpetuation  of  such 
life  demand  variations  by  both  sexes  ;  that  such  variations  are  only 
necessary  during  the  reproductive  period,  and  consequently  they  may 
be  expected  to  be  little  notable  before  puberty  and  tend  to  disappear 
after  the  climacteric.  The  assimilation  of  the  chemical  character  of 
women's  blood  after  the  climateric  to  the  blood  of  men  is  an  indi- 
cation in  the  same  line.  The  progressive  atrophy  of  the  mammary 
gland  after  the  menopause  is  another. 

The  Evolution  of  Sex,  by  Geddes  and  Thompson,  is  a  valuable 
condensed  compilation  of  the  information  now  accumulated  in  books 
on  this  subject.  As  a  summary  of  this  information,  we  may  say  that 
the  male  and  female  characteristics  pervade  all  life.  As  life  is  of 
simple  organization  so  are  these  characteristics  least  notable,  while 
as  life  is  of  complex  organization  so  is  sex  most  marked.  In  uni- 
cellular life  already  a  beginning  may  be  perceived.     Cells  often  meet 


Sex, 


21 


or  merge  together,  after  which  reproduction  takes  place  by  division. 
In  the  merging  we  may  note  that  it  is  between  a  large,  nutritive,  and 
sluggish  cell  and  a  small,  hungry,  active  cell.  This  foreshadows 
sex.  No  matter  under  what  variations  we  find  life,  we  find  these 
types  in  reproduction.  At  last  differentiated  in  sex,  we  find  the 
female  sex  always  anabolic  and  the  male  sex  always  katabolic. 

The  female  type  is  anabolic — nutritive,  conservative,  sluggish. 
The  male  type  is  katabolic — destructive,  originative,  active.  In 
the  ultimate  sex-elements  the  same  generalization  holds  good. 
Compared  to  the  sperm,  the  ovum  is  always  large,  nutritive,  and 
quiescent. 

The  higher  the  type  of  life  in  a  general  way,  the  greater  and  more 
radical  are  the  sex  differences.  The  necessities  of  life  perpetuation 
furnish  the  only  explanation  of  this  condition.  If  it  is  necessity  that 
makes,  perpetuates,  and  increases  sex  differences,  we  are  doing  some- 
thing dangerous  when  we  endeavor  to  neutralize  such  differences  by 
social  rules  and  laws. 

When  the  male  is  inferior  to  the  female  in  longevity,  vitality,  etc. , 
as  amongst  some  insects,  the  condition  has  accompanied  an  arrest  of 
progress,  or  at  least  such  inferiority  of  the  male  is  nowhere  an  accom- 
paniment of  the  highest  types.  Darwin  observes  in  speaking  of  ani- 
mals :•  "  Characters  common  to  the  male  are  occasionally  developed 
in  the  female  when  she  grows  old  or  becomes  diseased,  as,  for  in- 
stance, when  the  common  hen  assumes  the  flowing  tail  feathers, 
hackles,  combs,  spurs,  voice,  and  even  pugnacity  of  the  cock." 

It  is  a  very  prevalent  custom  amongst  breeders  of  animals  and 
birds  to  unsex  a  certain  proportion  of  the  increase  of  their  herds  or 
flocks.  The  facility  of  doing  this  with  the  male  and  comparative 
difficulty  with  the  female  has  practically  confined  the  operation  to 
the  males.  The  result  is  usually  an  increase  in  size,  an  improvement 
in  tenderness  of  flesh,  and  a  loss  of  courage  and  endurance. 

Amongst  horses  there  have  been  scarcely  any  great  gelding 
racers.  Parole  is  the  only  one  that  I  can  recall.  Geldings  lack  the 
courage  and  ambition  for  a  great  race.  Stallions  in  long  races  will 
often  dominate  or  apparently  overawe  both  geldings  and  mares.  The 
great  race  won  by  the  stallion  Swillington,  in  which,  when  he  found 
the  other  horse  beating  him,  he  seized  the  jockey's  leg  with  his  teeth 
and  pulled  him  out  of  the  saddle,  illustrates  the  determination  and 
ambition  of  the  male  horse.  The  Arab  idea,  and  the  idea  of  the 
early  Californians,  that  only  a  stallion  amongst  horses  was  fit  to  ride, 
may  have  good  foundation  for  it.  Stallions  are  the  best  mounts  for 
soldiers  on  account  of  their  courage,  and,  in  fact,  are  the  only 
reliable  horses  in  a  battle,  taking  them  as  a  class. 


22  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

The  effect  on  the  brain  of  unsexing  the  male  is  shown  in  some 
recent  examinations  of  horses.  The  proportion  of  weight  of  the 
cerebellum  to  the  cerebrum  is  : 

In  mares 1-5.57 

"geldings 1:5.97 

''stallions 1 7.07 

The  virgin  female  has  a  membrane  called  the  hymen.  This,  as 
a  rule,  guarantees  virginity.  There  are,  however,  a  few  recorded 
cases  even  of  impregnation  and  delivery  without  the  rupture  of  this 
membrane,  and  others  where  a  congenital  absence  of  the  hymen  has 
occurred.^ 

There  is  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  chastity  of  a  man.  Nature 
demands  purity  on  the  part  of  a  woman  to  secure  the  paternity  of 
the  children  and  the  purity  of  the  breed,  which  is  to  be  protected  by 
the  male  of  mankind,  as  it  is  to  a  less  extent  by  the  males  of  lower 
animals.  From  this  reason  it  may  be  understood  why  nature  has 
fixed  a  test  for  woman's  purity.  It  must  be  confessed  that  this  ex- 
planation is  without  much  force  and  unsatisfactory. 

Sexual  intercourse  with  a  virgin  involves,  as  a  rule,  the  rupture 
of  the  hymen  and  is  accompanied  with  some  blood  discharge.  The 
linen  thus  stained  was  kept  by  the  parents  of  the  bride  amongst  the 
ancient  Hebrews.  Moses  makes  these  tokens  a  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  previous  chastity  of  a  bride,  whose  reputation  might  be  at- 
tacked by  her  husband.  We  must,  therefore,  suppose  that  the  token 
of  virginity,  or  first  intercourse,  was  practically  universal  amongst 
the  Hebrews.  Such  tokens  are  considered  important  among  many 
races,  such  as  Arabs,  Slavs,  etc.  There  is  no  available  means  of 
knowing  whether  such  tokens  are  now  as  general  as  in  antiquity,  but 
there  seems  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that  they  are  less  so  amongst 
healthy  women  of  our  race  than  they  formerly  were  amongst  the 
Hebrews  or  our  own  ancestors,  who  also  demanded  these  evidences 
of  chastity.  Undoubtedly,  disease  of  the  reproductive  organs  or 
vaginal  examinations,  digital  or  instrumental,  may  destroy  the 
hymen,  but  in  such  case  the  woman  is,  though  carnally  chaste, 
physically  contra-indicated  for  matrimony. 

The  function  of  the  hymen  in  the  woman  may  be  to  exclude 
foreign  and  irritating  substances  from  the  generative  parts  before  the 
age  of  discretion.  In  little  girls  it  is  about  \  of  an  inch  from  the 
surface,  while  in  grown  virgins  it  is  from  ;^  to  J  an  inch  below  the 

'  Play  fair's  System  of  Midwifery,  p.  44. 
I^eishman's  System  of  Midwifery,  p.  7. 


Sex. 


23 


surface.  This  explanation  is  also  unsatisfactory,  because  the  gene- 
rative organs  are  more  subject  to  injury  by  foreign  substances  after 
than  before  childbirth. 

The  foreskin  in  the  male  probably  plays  a  protecting  part.  It 
has,  however,  no  known  conditions  that  would  indicate  a  non-user  of 
sexual  functions. 

The  vulva  is  the  external  female  generative  organ  and  the 
vagina  the  internal  canal  by  which  the  fertilizing  spermatozoa 
may  be  so  introduced  into  the  generative  organs  that  they  can 
penetrate  into  the  uterus  or  Fallopian  tubes.  For  a  full  description 
of  the  human  generative  organs,  Hirsch's  work,  already  referred  to, 
is  good.  Acton  goes  somewhat  farther  into  sexual  matters  in  his 
work.  On  the  Reproductive  Organs.  He  has,  however,  a  proper 
fear  of  a  thoroughly  complete  account  of  all  the  reproductive  func- 
tions, and,  besides,  has  many  personal  prejudices  which  he  allows  to 
control  his  advice.  He  has,  for  instance,  the  ridiculous  idea  that  the 
female  has^  little  or  no  enjoyment  in  the  reproductive  act.  There  is 
no  full  and  scientific  description  of  the  whole  reproductive  function 
in  man  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  and  I  am  afraid  to  violate  the 
prejudices  of  society  by  any  attempt  to  supply  this  deficiency.  In 
fact,  this  fragmentary  sketch  is  already  too  full  to  be  palatable  to  the 
general  reader.  I  have  a  work  in  which  there  is  what  purports  to 
be  a  copy  of  the  old  rules  of  the  Jesuits  for  the  examination  of  mar- 
ried women  at  the  confessional.  This  comes  nearer  a  complete  ex- 
position and  instruction  in  sexual  function  than  anything  else  I  have 
ever  seen.  I  must  admit  that,  while  I  believe  in  complete  instruc- 
tion on  reproductive  matters,  the  most  complete  work  on  the  matter 
I  know  of  produced  a  very  unfavorable  impression  on  me.  There 
are  a  number  of  works  such  as  Philosophy  of  Marringe,  Tokology^ 
Naphey's  books,  etc.,  etc.,  that  go  very  extensively  into  reproductive 
matters,  description  of  the  organs,  together  with  more  or  less  good 
suggestions  and  advice  on  the  uses  of  the  function,  and  still  none  of 
them  have  dared  to  tell  the  whole  story.  In  strictly  obscene  works 
one  may  find  an  account  of  this  function,  true,  indeed,  but  again 
limited,  and  this  time  without  dignity  and  thoroughly  disgusting. 
It  is  delicate  and  dangerous  ground. 

In  the  healthy  female  about  once  a  month  there  occurs  a  period 
called  the  menstrual  period.  At  this  time  an  ^%%  bursts  from  the  ovary 
and  passes  into  the  uterus,  and  if  not  fertilized,  it  dies  and  is  elimi- 
nated. From  the  wound  thus  formed  and  from  the  uterus  blood 
flows  for  from  one  to  seven  days,  or  even  longer.  Exceptions  have 
been  noted  where  no  menstrual  flow  preceded  conception,  conse- 
quently the  ^%%  must  have  descended  without  it.     But  the  rule  is  so 


24  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

general  that  the  absence  of  the  menses  in  a  virgin  is  accepted  as  a 
sign  of  disease  or  defective  organization. 

A  number  of  savage  tribes  celebrate  the  first  appearance  of  the 
menses  in  the  girl  by  a  feast.  Her  friends  call  and  congratulate  her 
on  becoming  a  woman.  This  custom  when  boys  reach  the  age  of 
puberty  is  also  found  amongst  many  peoples.  The  time  or  age  of 
the  boy  is,  however,  conventional  and  fixed.  In  both  cases  the 
age  varies  with  climate  and  race. 

The  secretion  of  the  uterus  usually  precedes  the  descent  of  the 
^%%.  If  this  secretion  persist  and  be  excessive,  the  ^%%  may  be 
washed  away,  even  after  union  with  the  spermatozoa  of  the  male. 
Thus  excessive  nerve  activity  or  strain,  which  often  deranges  this 
function  in  women,  may  induce  sterility. 

In  explanation  of  this  function,  some  say  that  it  is  the  escape  of 
energies  stored  in  the  female  for  procreation  and  that  it  is  the  waste 
of  disappointed  Nature  ;  others  say  that  it  makes  the  opportunity  for 
the  ^'g'g  fertilized  to  fix  itself  in  the  prepared  uterus  ;  and  we  may  say 
that  we  do  not  know. 

The  menstrual  period  is  generally  considered  by  women  as  a 
nuisance.  In  truth,  it  is  a  glory,  and  no  greater  misfortune  can  be- 
fall a  woman  than  the  loss  of  this  sign  of  her  reproductive  power 
before  the  normal  time,  at  between  forty  and  fifty  years  of  age.  Such 
a  loss  means  sterility,  ill-health,  loss  of  self-esteem,  and  unhappiness. 

The  human  being ^is  different  from  all  other  animals  in  repro- 
duction. In  man  during  the  productive  age,  procreative  power  is. 
continuous.  In  woman  it  is  monthly  and  only  intermitted  by 
conception,  lactation,  disease,  great  hardship,  or  exposure  to  cold. 
In  Greenland  women,  for  instance,  menstruation  is  generally  sup- 
pressed during  the  winter  months.  This  is  generally  true  of  women 
living  in  severe  climates.  With  wild  animals  in  natural  condition 
and  birds  the  reproductive  powers  are  limited  to  a  short  season  vary-^ 
ing  with  the  necessities  of  reproduction  in  the  animal.  In  most 
animals  this  period  occurs  but  once  a  year.  We  very  suggestively 
term  it  the  period  of  rut  or  ' '  heat. ' ' 

In  great  labors  of  mind  or  body  in  either  sex  the  powers  and 
inclination  for  reproduction  are  diminished.  The  ^z%  which  has 
thus  descended  into  the  uterus  or  into  the  Fallopian  tube  near  it 
may  be  fertilized  by  man. 

The  crisis  through  which  the  constitution  goes  at  this  time  re- 
quires reduced  effort  and  work  and  increased  precaution  against 
exposure  to  climate  or  disease. 

The  lessened  vitality  of  females  at  the  time  of  puberty  and  ado- 
lescence is  a  striking  fact,  according  to  Sir  James  Crichton  Brown. 


Sex. 


25 


Throughout  life,  in  every  quinquennium,  the  mortality  of  males 
from  small-pox  exceeds  that  of  females,  and  that  in  a  very  marked 
degree,  except  in  one  quinquennium,  from  the  tenth  to  the  four- 
teenth year,  when  the  female  exceeds  the  male  mortality,  being 
again  but  very  slightly  behind  it  in  the  succeeding  quinquennium, 
from  the  fifteenth  to  the  nineteenth  year.  At  all  ages  the  male 
death-rate  from  enteric  fever  exceeds  that  of  females,  but  the  female 
mortality  is  very  considerably  higher  from  the  third  to  the  twentieth 
year  of  life.  In  infancy,  and  also  in  old  age,  the  male  mortality 
from  diarrhoea  and  dysentery  exceeds  the  female  mortality,  but  in 
the  child-bearing  period,  from  fifteen  to  forty-five  years  of  age,  the 
mortality  is  distinctly  higher  among  females.  And  even  more 
striking  in  this  connection  are  the  statistics  of  phthisis  than  those  of 
zymotic  diseases.  Phthisis  is  more  fatal  to  males  than  females  under 
five  years  of  age  ;  but  then  a  change  takes  place,  and  from  five  to 
ten  it  is  much  more  fatal  to  females  than  to  males  ;  while  from  ten 
to  fifteen  it  is  more  than  twice  as  fatal  to  females  as  to  males.  From 
fifteen  to  twenty,  phthisis  is  still  much  more  fatal  to  females  than  to 
males  ;  from  twenty  to  twenty -five,  the  mortality  from  it  is  exactty 
equal  in  the  two  sexes,  and  from  twenty-five  to  thirty,  and  at  all 
subsequent  ages,  the  mortality  from  it  is  much  greater  among 
males  than  among  females.  Dr.  Brown  is  inclined  to  attribute 
this  to  over-pressure  in  education  ;  but  surely  there  are  many 
other  factors  more  important  in  lowering  the  vitality  of  young 
women. 

Dr.  Dimitri  Ott,  of  St.  Petersburg,  at  the  International  Medical 
Congress  at  Berlin,  in  1890,  showed  by  extensive  examinations  of 
women  and  girls  of  various  ages  that,  in  addition  to  the  nervous  phe- 
nomena observed  in  women  at  the  menstrual  period,  there  is  a  series 
of  variations  of  normal  functions  appearing  periodically  in  typical 
form.  The  curves  of  temperature,  muscular  strength,  blood  pres- 
sure, respiration,  and  nervous  irritability  all  attained  their  maximimi 
shortly  before  menstruation. 

A  description  of  the  generative  organs  of  the  male  or  of  the  acts 
leading  to  generation  must  be  sought  in  a  book  like  Flint's  Physi- 
ology, Acton  On  the  Reproductive  Orgajis,  or  some  similar  work. 

Acton's  work  is  valuable,  but  he  falls  into  errors  and  makes  posi- 
tive statements  on  questions  the  evidence  on  which  he  must  have 
taken  by  hearing.  He  says,  for  instance,  that  a  normal  woman 
has  only  exceptionally  sexual  desire.  This  is  probably  a  complete 
reversal  of  the  truth. 

One  reading  his  book  should  be  careful  to  sift  somewhat  the 
proof  of  Acton's  statements. 


26  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

Man  possesses  in  the  testes  an  organ  for  forming  the  spermatozoa, 
not,  as  I  know,  periodically,  but  at  any  time,  and  by  the  erectile 
power  of  the  penis  of  injecting  these  living  and  mysterious  spores 
into  the  generative  organs  of  the  female.  In  the  generative  act  the 
male  takes  the  superior  and  aggressive  position,  the  female  the 
inferior  and  expectant. 

The  male  has  the  power  of  fertilizing  an  indefinite  number  of 
females  within  the  period  of  gestation  of  one  child — i.  e.,  nine 
months.  In  this  period  a  woman  can  conceive  and  bear  children 
but  once,  and  may  bear  one,  two,  or,  at  most,  three  healthy  chil- 
dren, while  man,  without  the  artificial  restraint  of  monogamous  mar- 
riage, might  have  a  large  number  of  healthy  children  by  different 
mothers. 

The  normal  secretions  in  the  lower  female  generative  organs,  that 
is,  all  below  the  os  uteri,  are  acid,  while  those  of  the  male  are  alka- 
line. This  difference  is  thought  to  induce  electrical  phenomena 
favorable  to  generation. 

A  curious  similarity  of  opposition  in  chemical  reaction  exists  in 
the  intellectually  creative  part  of  our  bodies.  The  gray  matter  of 
the  brain  has  an  acid  reaction,  while  that  of  the  white  is  neutral  or 
alkaline. 

When  through  disease  or  inflammation  the  di.scharges  of  the 
female  generative  organs  become  abnormal,  generation  does  not 
generally  take  place,  and  may  never  take  place.  We  are  not  now 
sufficiently  informed  on  these  points  to  speak  with  precision,  but  can 
only  give  the  general  results.' 

This  is  equally  true  of  the  male  organs.  Gonorrhoea  is  the  vene- 
real disease  that  most  often  causes  absolute  sterility  in  both  sexes. 
The  mucous  inflammation  with  which  this  trouble  commences  often 
extends  to  the  Fallopian  tubes  and  closes  them,  imprisoning  the  eggs, 
or,  completely  involving  the  uterus,  prevents  conception.  In  the 
male  the  inflammation  may  close  the  ducts  through  which  the 
spermatozoa  should  pass,  or  may  destroy  the  power  of  the  testes 
to  properly  perfect  them. 

The  male  principle  in  this  most  wonderfully  creative  act  has  a 
capacity  of  independent  and  continued  motion  ;  that  of  the  female, 
the  ^gg,  has  none.  This  is  the  normal  relation  of  the  sexes  through- 
out.    The  man  has  the  initiative,  the  woman  the  passive. 

In  the  male  during  adult  life  spermatozoa  are  found,  as  a  rule, 
indicating  no  periodicity  of  their  formation.  They  have  been  found 
by  Duplay  and  M.  A.  Dieu  in  men  of  advanced  age.     The  figures 

*  Thomas'  Diseases  of  Women,  pp.  262,  626,  627. 


Sex,  27 

as  given  by  Dieu  are  of  twenty-five  sexagenarians ;  spermatozoids 
were  found  in  68.5  per  cent.  Of  seventy-six  septuagenarians  the 
per  cent,  was  59.5  ;  of  fifty-one  octogenarians  the  per  cent,  having 
spermatozoids  was  48  ;  four  having  passed  the  age  of  ninety  gave 
negative  results.  It  is  probable  that  the  spermatozoa  persist  in 
many  cases  when  the  generative  power  is  lost.' 

Ovulation,  or  the  capacity  to  conceive,  usually  ceases  in  mothers 
between  43  and  50  ;  in  virgins  or  women  without  children,  between 
38  and  45.  Very  notable  exceptions  sometimes  occur.  A  Scotch 
woman  is  reported  recently  as  having  borne  children  at  the  foflowing 
ages  :  47,  49,  51,  53,  56,  60,  and  62.  The  following  case  is  authen- 
ticated by  affidavits  :  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  D.  Green,  of  Pike  County, 
Arkansas,  have  had  23  children,  of  whom  18  are  still  living.  They 
have  72  living  grandchildren  and  12  living  great-grandchildren. 
Mr.  Green  when  married  lacked  25  days  of  being  23  years  of  age, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  his  last  child  he  was  67  years  7 
months  and  15  days  old.  Mrs.  Green  at  the  date  of  the  birth  of  her 
first  child  \yas  18  years  4  months  and  6  days  old,  and  at  the  time 
of  her  last  child's  birth  lacked  11  days  of  being  62  years  old.  The 
children  were  all  bom  singly."  There  are  a  number  of  reliable  cases 
on  record  where  women  have  continued  to  bear  children  between 
50  and  54  years  of  age. 

If  the  woman  does  not  become  a  mother  by  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  there  is  a  continuous  tendency  to  degeneracy  and  atrophy  of  the 
reproductive  organs,  therefore  a  virgin,  everything  else  being  equal, 
cannot  be  as  healthy  as  a  mother  after  that  age.  Every  additional 
year  makes  the  change  more  notable.  These  changes  are  especially 
unfavorable  to  marriage  duties.  Conception  is  less  likely  to  occur 
after  intercourse ;  the  child  conceived  is  delivered  with  more  diffi- 
culty and  danger,  and  it  is  less  likely  to  live.  Experience  warrants 
the  general  presumption  that  a  woman,  a  virgin  at  thirty-eight,  can, 
in  only  exceptional  instances,  become  the  mother  of  a  living.child, 
or  of  one  that  may  be  reared.  A  few  exceptions  to  this  general 
truth  have  been  brought  to  my  attention.  The  most  striking  is  that 
of  a  woman  whose  first  child  was  delivered  in  her  forty-second  year. 
This  woman  had  one  other  child.  One  of  them  lived,  which,  how- 
ever, is  not  now  ascertainable,  but  probably  the  second. 

Another  case  of  a  claimed  first  conception  in  the  forty-ninth  year 
of  the  woman  has  been  published.  The  woman  lived  and  the  child 
was  delivered  by  forceps  at  term. 

'  See  Flint's  Text-Book  of  Human  Physiology,  p.  886. 
'  Medical  Record,  June  8,  1889. 


28  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

Dr.  I^awson  Tait  says  that  the  human  female  is  an  exception 
amongst  animals,  in  that  she  has  a  menopause.  He  states  positively 
that  ovulation  continues  indefinitel}^  amongst  the  females  of  other 
animals.  Cats  have  kittens  at  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  of  age, 
which  would  correspond  to  eighty  and  ninety  in  the  human  being. 
Mares  the  same. 

Women  married  at  the  proper  age,  on  the  other  hand,  usually 
continue  to  bear  children  well  into  the  forties.  Extraordinary  cases 
of  prolonged  virility  are  also  noted  in  men.  I  have  personally  noted 
a  case  of  gonorrhoea  infection  in  a  man  of  eighty-six,  and  there  are 
a  few  fairly  reliable  records  of  men  having  had  children  after  their 
one  hundreth  year,  that  of  Thomas  Parr  being  perhaps  at  once  the 
best  authenticated  and  the  most  remarkable.  Much  question  has 
been  recently  thrown  on  the  Parr  history. 

The  Old  Testament  gives  us  some  notable  cases  of  fertility  in 
advanced  ages.  From  this  book  we  learn  that  Sarah  had  her  first 
child  at  eighty,  and  that  the  males  retained  their  virility  to  wonder- 
ful ages.  Whether  the  periods  of  time  mentioned  in  the  Bible  cor- 
respond with  those  now  received  may,  however,  well  be  doubted. 

The  female  has  in  the  menstrual  period  a  sort  of  safety-valve  for 
her  instinct  of  reproduction.  The  man  has  none  except  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  part  of  the  act  of  generation  with  the  woman,  or  by 
a  destructive  abuse  of  these  his  highest  powers.  Nocturnal  emis- 
sions, it  is  true,  can  occur  naturally  without  any  injury  whatever. 
They  are,  however,  usually  the  result  of  abuse  or  excessive  sexual 
indulgence.  Complete  continence  to  the  male  is  comparatively  easy ; 
incomplete  continence,  however,  is  most  diflScult. 

When  the  male  principle  unites  with  the  female,  the  ^%%,  it 
fertilizes  it,  stamps  it,  and  fuses  with  it.  From  the  point  of  contact 
life  begins  and  radiates.  The  life  is  given  by  the  male.  It  is  he 
who  lights  the  flame.  The  ^%%  then  becomes  attached  to  the  uterus. 
The  chorion  and  placenta  develop,  thus  bringing  the  child  in  direct 
connection  with  the  mother,  by  whom  it  is  nourished.  The  blood 
passes  by  endosmose  and  exosmose  from  one  to  the  other.  The 
child  and  mother  are  one.  The  child  is  a  part  of  the  father ;  thus 
the  father  is  also  in  the  woman,  blood  to  blood,  and  nerve  to  nerve. 
Thus  we  can  understand  how  it  is  that  a  wife  comes  to  resemble  a 
husband  after  bearing  him  children,  or  bears  children  to  a  second 
husband  in  the  likeness  of  the  first.  His  blood,  nerves,  and  consti- 
tution in  the  child  are  in  and  connected  with  the  blood,  nerves,  and 
constitution  of  the  woman  pregnant  by  him.  He  is  in  her  but  she 
is  not  in  him.  So,  the  influence  telling,  she  comes  to  resemble  him, 
not  he  her,  and  the  child  of  the  second  husband  resembles  the  first 


Sex,  29 

through  the  stamp  on  the  woman  by  the  first.  I  do  not  wish  to  be 
understood  to  claim  that  the  spermatozoa  of  the  father  contain 
blood  or  nerves.  The  spermatozoa,  however,  do  possess  a  power 
in  generation  similar  in  effect  to  that  of  the  individual  brain  in 
intellectual  creation. 

The  brain  receives  blood  from  the  vital  organs,  and  is  largely 
influenced  in  its  activities  by  the  character  of  that  blood,  which 
nourishes  and  vitalizes  it.  At  the  same  time  the  quality  and  char- 
acter of  an  intellectual  creation  depend  upon  and  are  limited  by  the 
brain  matter  through  which  the  blood  passes.  It  is  in  the  brain 
itself  that  the  individual  stamp  is  given  to  our  thoughts. 

In  generation,  the  spermatozoa  and  the  ovum  fuse  and  become 
one.  The  life  of  the  father  and  mother  is  there  renewed,  and  the 
life  thus  lighted  has  the  power  of  moulding  and  forming  all  the 
nourishment,  giving  it  growth  to  the  image  of  the  united  pair,  as 
fixed  in  the  fertilized  egg.  The  growth  of  the  foetus,  and  the  devel- 
opment in  it  of  bone,  blood,  nerve,  and  brain,  is  the  growth  of  the 
father  united  to  the  mother.  The  character  and  identity  of  the  in- 
dividual man  is  fixed  and  maintained  by  a  stamping  or  individ- 
ualizing power  of  his  or  her  vitality.  The  cells,  molecules,  or 
atoms  forming  our  bodies  are  ever  changing.  From  year  to  year, 
from  day  to  day,  from  second  to  second,  these  atoms  die  and  are 
swept  away  to  be  replaced  by  others.  The  process  only  ceases  when 
Death  coldly  commands  a  halt.  The  force  that  thus  is  ever  alert  to 
mould  each  new  aliment  introduced  into  the  man  after  birth  to  the 
human  type,  is  equally  powerful  to  mould  the  mother's  nourishing 
blood  to  the  individuality  of  the  unborn  child. 

For  about  nine  months  the  child  grows,  going  through  various 
stages.  Commencing  with  an  egg  from  which  all  life  starts,  it  has 
a  progress  which  is  a  living  history  of  animal  evolution.  First  the 
semen  when  liberated  from  the  tubercles  of  the  testes  divides  up  as 
does  the  most  primitive  life.  Nuclei  have  to  divide,  nucleoli  to  mul- 
tiply, and  each  division  of  the  nucleoli  to  become,  through  a  gradual 
adolescence,  adult  spermatozoa.'  From  this  early  increase  of  life  by 
division  we  find  now  the  two  sexes  necessary  for  reproduction.  The 
female  perfects  the  simple  egg  as  it  is  in  the  next  step  of  evolution, 
then  comes  fertilization,  by  union  with  the  male,  and  wonderful, 
indeed,  we  find  in  this  fertilized  egg  growth  and  development,  con- 
ditions succeeding  each  other,  which  make  it  similar  to  the  fish,  to 
the  reptile,  to  the  lower  mammals,  to  the  highest  mammals  below 
man,  and  after  birth  a  still  further  progression  and  each  change  cor- 

^  See  Acton  On  Reproductive  Organs^  p.  91. 


30  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

responding  in  order  to  the  chronology  of  life  established  by  the 
geological  record. 

During  the  period  of  gestation  safety  to  the  woman  and  the  life 
of  the  child  demand  a  quiet,  orderly  existence  without  extreme  exer- 
tion or  excitement.  For  six  weeks  after  the  birth  of  the  child,  the 
civilized  woman  should  have  absolute  quiet  and  repose.  For  some 
months  longer  great  care  is  required. 

While  it  is  true  that  many  women  do  well  without  so  long  a  period 
of  rest  and  quiet  as  has  been  named,  it  is  equally  true  that  a  large 
amount  of  disease  and  misery  among  women  results  from  a  neglect 
or  inability  to  observe  the  rule  for  rest  and  recovery  laid  down.  The 
risk  of  uterine  trouble,  displacement,  etc. ,  after  labor  is  beyond  a 
doubt  greatly  increased  by  premature  exercise  or  work.  Abortion 
or  premature  expulsion  of  the  child  caused  by  weakness,  by  accident, 
or  by  intention  requires  still  more  care  and  is  frequently  followed  by 
long  and  distressing  illness. 

A  medical  writer  has  spoken  of  abortion  as  the  picking  of  unripe 
fruit  and  compares  its  effects  on  the  woman  to  those  of  such  picking 
on  the  tree.  The  green  fruit  is  firm  in  its  fastening  to  the  tree  ;  to 
get  it  off  one  must  pull  and  twist,  with  the  frequent  result  of  bruised 
fruit,  torn  twigs,  and  broken  limbs,  and  after  all  it  is  of  no  account. 
The  ripe  fruit,  on  the  other  hand,  comes  off  almost  with  a  touch, 
perfect  in  texture  and  flavor.  So  with  the  woman  ;  before  term 
nothing  is  ready  and  the  separation  of  mother  and  child  is  under  a 
protest  of  nature.  Hemorrhage,  injuries,  and  even  permanent  in- 
validism are  a  frequent  consequence.  In  all  the  stages  before  the 
sixth  month  the  child  is  lost,  after  that  and  before  term  it  is 
generally  lost  or  reared  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  While  at  term 
a  fatty  degeneration  has  gone  on  in  the  parts,  resistance  is  at  a 
minimum,  and  everything  is  ready  for  a  return  to  the  conditions 
before  conception. 

Under  a  protest  of  nature  against  a  violation  of  her  intentions  the 
delicate  generative  organs  are  liable  to  injury.  Thus  the  child  is 
lost,  the  mother  injured,  nature's  efforts  for  the  future  of  the  individual 
are  frustrated,  and  we  have  as  in  the  orchard  only  a  nubbin  and  a 
broken  tree.  Abortion  consequently  cannot  do  away  with  the  neces- 
sity of  care  after  conception,  but  rather  increases  it. 

The  woman  has  a  considerable  development  of  the  mammary 
gland  or  breast.  After  childbirth  this  gland  in  the  healthy  woman 
secretes  milk  for  her  child.  The  child  first  nourished  by  the  mother's 
blood  is  next  nourished  by  her  milk — always  by  her  love.  If  this 
function  be  suppressed,  the  recovery  of  the  woman  from  childbirth  is 
delayed  and  endangered.     The  generative  organs  are  slow  in  re- 


Sex,  3 1 

establishing  their  old  conditions  if  the  child  be  not  suckled.  Many 
^female  diseases  start  from  this  cause.  The  life  of  the  child  is  also 
endangered,  the  mortality  in  hand-fed  and  even  wet-nursed  children 
being  from  ten  to  ninety  per  cent,  greater  than  in  those  suckled  by 
their  mothers.  The  mother  loses  also  a  great  joy.  The  suckling  of 
her  child  will  prove  one  of  her  greatest  pleasures.' 

The  man  has  no  mammary  glands  developed.  This  statement 
is  a  general  truth  as  to  the  male,  but  abnormal  developments  of  these 
glands  in  the  male  are  on  record,  and  even  milk  has  been  secreted  by 
the  man  ;  but  such  departures  from  the  rule  are  ever  found  in  nature. 
Men  have  been  known  with  breasts  of  milk  and  women  with  thick 
growing  beards. 

These  exceptions  do  not  vitiate  the  rule  as  to  the  development  of 
the  sexes." 

During  the  period  of  suckling,  exposure,  overwork,  all  excitement 
or  careless  diet  on  the  part  of  the  mother  will  injure  the  babe  and 
may  kill  it.  Such  injudicious  acts  may  also  bring  on  abscess  of  the 
breasts  or  other  painful  troubles  in  woman.^ 

This  function  should  be  properly  performed  about  nine  months. 
Childbirth  and  its  immediate  duties  occupy  about  seventeen  months, 
and  after  this  is  complete  still  no  one  is  so  well  fitted  to  care  for  the 
helpless  child  as  the  mother  for  the  first  five  or  six  years  of  life. 

These  necessary  maternal  duties  prevent  the  woman  from  fully 
taking  part  in  the  outside  contest  during  the  period  of  her  greatest 
vitality.  If  she  do  not  perform  those  duties  she  exterminates  her 
individuality  and  life.  So  nature  rids  herself  of  useless  incumbrance. 
It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  see  how  the  interests  of  the  race  can  be 
advanced  by  a  return  to  the  system  of  savages  and  barbarians,  in 
making  the  woman  carry  the  burden  of  bread-gaining  as  well  as  that 
of  breeding.  Many  civilized  people  living  in  continual  poverty 
follow  the  savage  system,  somewhat  mitigated  however.  These 
people  for  the  most  part  are  peasants  now,  and  have  been  peasants 
in  the  past  for  an  indefinite  period  of  time.  The  tendency  of  civiliza- 
tion and  of  advance,  at  least  till  recently,  has  been  toward  a  libera- 
tion of  woman  from  the  drive  of  drudgery.  Under  this  advance  she 
has  grown  more  beautiful  in  body,  morals,  and  mind.  Unfortu- 
nately, humanity  has  been  continually  confronted  with  a  point  at 
which  the  nerves  are  not  balanced  by  the  body,  and  the  reproductive 
powers  of  the  races  disappear. 

^  See  Jos.  B.  Winter's  articles,  Medical  Record. 

^  See  on  mammary  glands,  Leishman's  System  of  Midwifery^  p.  154. 
•  Even  so  simple  a  matter  as  bathing  on  a  full  breast  instead  of  after  the 
child  has  nursed  may  cause  serious  consequences. 


32  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

While  it  is  true  that  an  extreme  point  has  sometimes  been 
reached  in  which  idleness  productive  only  of  inanity  has  been  the 
lot  of  women,  and  in  which  neither  body,  morals,  nor  mind  could 
develop  or  even  hold  their  own,  it  is  not  true  that  the  liberation  of 
energy  in  women  for  reproduction,  consequent  upon  their  activities 
being  largely  confined  to  the  home,  has  proved  unfavorable  as  a 
whole  to  the  interests  of  humanity.  This  higher  nervous  organiza- 
tion in  advanced  societies  doubtless  demands  more  care  in  generation 
or  force  for  reproduction  in  their  women  than  is  required  in  less 
mentally  developed  women. 

The  woman's  rights  agitation,  and  the  change  in  the  status, 
education,  and  activities  of  women  are  all  the  results  of  a  condition. 
This  condition  has  produced  also  the  increasingly  high  standard  of 
life.  Amongst  the  consequences  are  increasing  difficulty  of  attain- 
ment of  the  standard,  progressive  delay  or  avoidance  of  marriage, 
and  in  marriage  the  avoidance  of  children. 

These  things  hold  women  back  from  child-bearing.  This,  again, 
takes  away  the  main  object  of  men  in  protecting  them  or  caring  for 
them,  as  it  also  takes  away  much,  if  not  all  the  necessity  of  their 
being  protected  and  provided  for.  All  this  to  the  extent  that  women 
do  not  have  children.  The  results  we  see  before  us.  The  high 
standard  of  life  is  now  difficult  for  man  to  attain  to  alone,  without 
providing  for  a  wife  or  family.  The  women  are  therefore  in  increas- 
ing numbers  pushed  out  into  the  fight  of  life.  Considerable 
numbers,  having  nothing  to  hold  them  back,  go  voluntarily  into 
the  world's  contests — nay,  often  force  themselves  there. 

These  are  usually  the  most  intelligent  and  capable.  The  reason 
for  this  seeking  of  interests  in  the  drudgery  of  life  is  probably 
threefold  : 

I  St.  Not  having  the  glory  of  reproduction  to  occupy  them,  their 
intelligent  minds  demand  an  interest. 

2d.  The  frequent  weakening  in  so-called  highly  educated  women 
of  both  the  reproductive  instinct  and  the  reproductive  power. 

3d.  The  difficulty  of  satisfying  a  woman  of  superior  intelligence 
and  high  education  in  the  matter  of  a  husband.  We  perceive  this  from 
the  fact  noted  by  Galton  that  the  daughters  of  eminent  men  marry 
less  frequently  than  the  sons,  and  consequentlj^  create  fewer  children. 

The  present  movement  in  women's  status  will  doubtless  do  good 
in  eliminating  the  extreme  and  disadvantageous  idleness  still  found 
in  many  women's  lives,  and  the  substitution  for  these  errors  of  a 
wholesome  and  safe  series  of  activities  in  which  body  and  mind  may 
be  developed  and  the  morals  strengthened.  It  is  difficult,  however, 
to  reconcile  the  interest  of  the  race  with  the  idea  of  opening  to 


Sex. 


33 


women  all  forms  of  life  activity.  Take  politics  for  instance.  Public 
officers  have  terms  ranging  from  one  year  to  six,  with  the  possibility 
of  re-election.  In  fact,  a  successful  political  life  demands  a  consider- 
able period  of  office-holding  in  one  or  another  position  of  trust. 
Many  of  the  highest  judges  hold  for  life.  Take  the  term  of  a 
United  States  senator,  six  years,  or  take  any  of  the  terms  of  office 
usually  held  before  this  dignity  is  reached.  Is  it  possible  to  conceive 
that  a  woman  in  political  place  could  attend  to  her  official  public 
duties  as  well  when  bearing  children  as  when  sterile  ?  Must  she, 
then,  for  the  highest  political  achievement  remain  single,  or,  if 
married,  refuse  conjugal  intercourse,  or  use  preventive  measures, 
which  physicians  unite  in  saying  injure  and  undermine  the  health  ? 
If  a  woman  be  single  when  she  enters  public  life  she  may  many- 
while  in  it,  if  no  law  provide  to  the  contrary.  If  she  marry,  con- 
ception and  childbirth  must  be  expected.  We  have  already  seen 
that  a  woman  with  child  could  not  safely  take  the  risks  which  an 
unfertilized  woman  or  a  man  could.  Neither  can  she  that  suckles 
her  young.  The  result  of  putting  women  in  politics  would  be  first 
a  recognition  on  their  part  of  the  handicap  of  child-bearing,  and 
second,  a  refusal  of  at  least  the  majority  of  those  going  into  it  to 
submit  to  the  handicap.  On  the  supposition  that  the  most  intel- 
ligent women  would  take  hold  of  politics,  their  probable  failure, 
as  a  rule,  to  perpetuate  their  superiorities  to  the  next  generation 
in  children,  we  must  admit  would  be  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  race. 

The  brain  of  the  high-class  white  women  probably  runs  over  the 
average  of  her  sex  and  race  (44  oz.),  but  even  if  it  does  not,  it  is  pro- 
portionately superior  to  that  of  the  negro  male,  which  is  44  oz.,  with; 
however,  on  his  part  superior  bulk  of  flesh,  which  makes  his  brain 
relatively  inferior  to  the  female  white  brain  of  the  same  weight.  It  is, 
of  course,  unreasonable  with  these  facts  before  us  to  assert  that  the 
male  negro  is  mentally  better  fitted  to  vote  than  the  female  of  the 
white  race.  It  is  also  quite  ridiculous  to  assert  that  a  Madame  de 
Stael,  George  Sand,  George  Bliot,  Mrs.  Somerville,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward 
Howe,  or  a  thousand  others  we  could  name  are  unfit  to  vote,  or  less 
so  than  the  ward  striker  or  *'  politician  for  plunder,"  we  all  are  so 
familiar  with. 

The  policy,  however,  of  throwing  these  women  into  careers  dis- 
couraging to  matrimony  or  at  least  to  child-bearing  may  well  be 
doubted.  No  activity  could  serve  their  country  or  humanity  so  well 
as  the  perpetuation  of  their  superiorities,  not  in  ideals  alone  but  in 
LIFE.  Were  I  a  tyrant  with  absolute  power,  I  should  be  inclined  to 
make  it  a  legal  obligation  on  every  superior  woman  to  breed.  I  be- 
lieve that  at  present  this  is  their  moral  obligation. 


34  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

In  the  nervous  and  brain  organization  of  the  two  sexes,  differences 
are  observable.  As  might  be  expected,  knowledge  of  the  internal 
and  invisible  sex  differences  is  much  less  complete  than  knowledge 
of  the  external  and  visible  differences.  The  whole  sympathetic 
nervous  system  is  more  developed  in  the  female  ;  hence  the  greater 
frequency  of  hysteria  and  kindred  troubles  in  women.  As  it  is  pro- 
portionately more  developed  in  woman,  so  it  is  also  more  delicate 
and  more  subject  to  be  upset  by  shocks  or  rough  usage. 

The  average  weight  of  the  brain  in  the  white  man  in  America  is 
a  little  over  49  oz.,  in  woman  a  little  over  44  oz.'  The  relationship  is 
as  100  to  90.  In  the  lower  races  the  difference  between  the  brains  of  the 
sexes  is  less  than  in  the  civilized.  This  is  the  case  also  in  all  sex- 
ual variations.  Even  in  the  apes  these  sexual  differences  are  greater 
in  the  gorilla,  orang,  and  chimpanzee,  the  highest  members  of  the 
order,  than  in  the  lower  apes. 

The  following  summary,  from  the  Medical  Record,  of  Sir  James 
Crichton-Browne's  oration  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  I^ondon  is  of  interest : 

The  orator  maintained  that  the  growing  tendency  around  us  to  ignore 
intellectual  distinctions  between  the  sexes  is  unphysiological,  and  he  adduced 
numerous  interesting  facts  in  support  of  this  view.  The  radical  explanation 
of  sex,  he  said,  was  to  be  sought  in  what  Michael  Foster  had  called  "  the  pro- 
toplasmic movement,"  that  is  to  say,  in  the  integrative  and  disintegrative 
changes  of  living  matter.  Anabolic  and  katabolic  processes  were  manifold, 
varied  in  their  relative  ascendency  in  different  individuals,  and  were  influenced 
by  environment,  so  that  in  tracing  their  operation  through  the  animal  king- 
dom, qualifications  and  explanations  were  from  time  to  time  needful,  but 
subject  to  these  it  was  everywhere  obvious  that  the  female  was  the  outcome 
and  expression  of  predominant  anabolism,  and  the  male  of  predominant  kata- 
bolism.  A  study  of  the  organic  and  functional,  primary  and  secondary  sexual 
characters,  of  the  normal  development  of  the  tissues,  and  of  their  pathological 
modifications,  made  this  evident,  and  a  study  of  the  emotional  and  intellectual 
characteristics  of  men  and  women  led  to  the  same  conclusion.  Differences  in 
intellect  implied  cerebral  differences,  and  first  among  cerebral  differences  be- 
tween the  sexes  he  would  refer  to  mass  and  weight.  Tables  were  produced 
showing  that,  allowing  for  differences  of  stature,  there  was  still  an  excess  of 
brain  weight  of  more  than  an  ounce  in  favor  of  the  male.  It  could  also  be 
shown  from  the  tables  that  organic  diseases,  and  the  atrophic  changes  they 
induced,  lowered  the  normal  difference  between  the  male  and  female  brain. 
That  the  smaller  size  of  the  female  brain  was  a  fundamental  sexual  distinction 
was  made  clear  by  the  fact  that  the  same  difference  in  brain  weight  between 
men  and  women  had  been  found  in  savage  races.  Not  only  was  the  male 
brain  heavier  than  the  female,  but  it  had  a  wider  range  of  variation  in  weight. 
There  were  also  grounds  for  believing  that  there  was  a  difference  in  the  balance 

'  Flint's  Text-Book  of  Human  Physiology,  p.  689. 


Sex.  35 


of  parts  in  the  male  and  female  brains  respectively.  Broca  had  declared  that 
the  occipital  lobes  were  more  voluminous  in  the  female,  and  Sir  James  Crichton- 
Browne  said  that  his  own  observations  confirmed  this  conclusion  and  showed 
that,  while  the  frontal  lobes  were  equally  developed  in  both  sexes,  the  parietal 
lobes,  which  corresponded  roughly  with  the  motor  area  of  Ferrier,  were  larger 
in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  and  the  occipital  lobes,  certainly  sensory  in 
their  functions,  were  larger  in  the  female  than  in  the  male.  The  third  brain 
difference  between  the  sexes  was  one  of  convolutional  arrangement ;  mere 
ocular  inspection  would  bring  home  to  any  one  who  diligently  used  it  the 
superior  symmetry  of  the  female  brain,  due  to  its  comparative  poverty  in 
secondary  g>'ri.  He  had  also  found  the  specific  gravity  of  the  gray  matter  gen- 
erally lower  in  the  female  than  in  the  male  brain.  Another  momentous  diflfer- 
ence  was  in  vascular  supply.  In  an  investigation  carried  on  jointly  with  Dr. 
Sydney  Martin,  he  had  found  that  the  diameter  of  the  internal  carotid  and 
vertebral  arteries,  taken  together,  was  slightly  greater  in  the  male  than  in  the 
female.  When  the  smaller  size  of  the  female  brain  was  taken  into  account,  it 
appeared  that  the  female  brain  received  a  larger  supply  of  blood  in  proportion 
to  its  mass  than  the  male  brain  did,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  blood 
was  somewhat  poorer  in  quality  than  that  going  to  the  male  brain.  The  dis- 
tribution of  blood  to  the  brain  in  the  two  sexes  differed  considerably.  The 
internal  carotid  arteries,  with  their  great  branches,  the  anterior  and  middle 
cerebral  arteries,  supplying  the  supra-orbital  convolutions  and  island  of  Reil, 
the  gyrus  fornicatus,  the  Rolandic  area,  the  angular  gyrus,  and  the  first  tem- 
poro-sphenoidal  lobules,  were  much  larger  in  the  male  than  in  the  female  brain, 
but  the  vertebral  arteries,  which  supplied  the  occipital  and  temporo-sphenoidal 
lobules,  were  larger  in  the  female,  and  the  basilar  artery,  which  was  practically 
a  continuation  of  the  vertebrals,  was  also  larger  in  the  female  brain.  The  pos- 
terior communicating  arteries  were  incapable  of  adjusting  the  balance  between 
the  direct  currents  of  the  carotid  and  vertebral  arteries,  and  the  result  of  the 
difference  mentioned  was  that  the  anterior  region  of  the  brain  was  compara- 
tively more  copiously  irrigated  with  blood  in  men,  and  the  posterior  in  women. 
The  region  of  the  brain  which  in  men  was  most  richly  flushed  with  blood  was 
that  which  was  concerned,  we  had  reason  to  believe,  in  volition,  cognition, 
and  ideo-muscular  processes  ;  while  the  region  which  in  women  was  most  vas- 
cular was  that  which  was  mainly  concerned  in  sensory  functions,  and  we  thus 
saw  that  there  was  a  relation  between  the  size  of  the  cerebral  arteries  and  what 
observation  had  taught  us  as  to  the  intellectual  and  emotional  differences  of 
the  sexes.  Differences  in  brain  structure  and  function  had  a  special  pathologi- 
cal significance  at  the  period  when  sexual  divergence  was  taking  place  most 
rapidly,  and  when  education  was  being  pushed  forward  with  most  vigor.  The 
orator  then  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  methods  of  education.  He  said  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  overpressure  was  rampant  in  high  schools  for  girls 
in  this  country,  though  there  were  those  who  believed  that  it  was  a  medical 
n^yth.  He  protested  against  home  evening  lessons,  and  also  against  girls  pro- 
ceeding to  school  without  having  first  had  an  adequate  morning  meal.  He 
quoted  in  conclusion,  as  an  argument  against  the  equal  education  of  the  sexes, 
the  remark  that  "  what  was  decided  among  the  prehistoric  protozoa  cannot  be 
annulled  by  Act  of  Parliament,"  and  he  said  that  the  essential  difference  be- 
tween male  and  female  could  not  be  obliterated  at  a  sweep  of  the  pen  by  any 
Senatus  Academicus. 


36  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

In  the  whole  matter  of  cranial  capacity,  in  absolute  brain  weight 
or  in  its  relative  size  to  the  rest  of  the  body,  we  have  but  a  partial 
and  general  guide  that  in  our  present  knowledge  is  at  least  unre- 
liable in  all  minor  details  or  differences.  The  elephant  has  a  greater 
brain  weight  than  man,  and  a  number  of  birds  and  animals  have 
brains  relatively  larger  to  their  bodies  than  man.  The  brain  of  the 
infant  is  larger  in  comparison  to  the  body  than  that  of  the  man. 
The  proportion  of  the  brain  of  the  savage  to  that  of  civilized  man  in 
a  rough,  general  way  is  about  5  to  6,  but  the  difference  in  intel- 
lectual force  is  more  nearly,  as  Galton  has  said,  i  to  1,000. 

The  female  brain,  considered  relatively  as  to  the  whole  body 
weight,  is  very  nearly  in  the  same  ratio  as  that  of  the  male. 

All  these  things  show  a  lack  of  complete  connection  either  as  to 
absolute  brain  size  or  comparative  brain  size  in  intellectual  force. 

In  taking  up  cranial  capacity,  for  instance,  we  would  find  the 
Chinese  below  the  Esquimaux,  and  the  neolithic  man  of  some 
districts  above  the  modem  Parisian.  We  can  hardly  believe  this  to 
be  correct.  In  America  we  find  the  negro  cranial  capacity,  measured 
while  the  race  was  still  under  the  influence  of  slavery,  to  have  been 
83  cu.  cen.,  or  less  than  that  of  the  native  African  ;  other  measure- 
ments make  the  difference  greater  in  favor  of  the  Afirican.  We  gen- 
erally consider  the  American  negro  the  more  mentally  developed. 
Still  slavery,  by  taking  away  individual  self-reliance  and  initiative, 
and  by  thus  leaving  part  of  the  brain  faculties  unused,  may  have 
actually  diminished  them. 

Races.  Mean. 

English 96 

Germans  \ 

Anglo-Americans    / ^    " 

Arabs 89  "] 

Greco-Egyptians  of  the  Catacombs       .        .        88  I 

Irish 87  I 

Malays 86  J 

Persians 1 

Armenians       ^  f     •         94  75  19 

Circassians        i  o^  j 

Iroquois  | ^S 

^h^ro^^es        ^ •      '°4  7o  34 

Shoshones J 

African  Negroes  \  « 

Polynesians  \ ^ 

Chinese  \  g 

Creole  Negroes  of  North  America  j"      •        •  « 
Hindoos                                               S 

Ancient  Egyptians  of  Catacombs   >■     .        .  80 
Fellahs                                                 j 

Mexicans 79 

Peruvians     "j 

Australians  \ 75 

Hottentots    I 


Max. 

MIN. 

DiEF. 

105 

91 

14 

J114 

70 

14 

82 

15 

98 

84 

14 

74 

23 

97 

78 

19 

68 

29 

99 

65 

34 

94 

82 

2 

91 

70 

21 

89 

73 

16 

91 

77 

14 

96 

68 

28 

96 

66 

30 

92 

67 

25 

lOI 

58 

47 

83 

68 

15 

83 

63 

20 

Sex.  37 

Broca's  measurements  of  a  vast  series  of  Parisians'  skulls  would 
lend  color  to  this  view,  for  the  cranial  capacity  increases  with  the 
intellectual  manifestations  of  the  various  epochs  examined.  A 
curious  thing  in  these  cranial  measurements  is  the  way  in  which  the 
maxima  and  minima  of  races  cross  into  each  other.  This  shows  the 
importance  of  careful  selection  in  marriage,  not  only  as  to  race,  but 
as  to  individuals.  Morton's  table  (see  opposite  page)  showing  the 
various  race  cranial  capacities  is  considered  the  best  made.  Its 
surprises  are  worth  examination. 

We  must  be  satisfied  to  say  at  present  that  while  brain  size  is  a 
general  guide  to  brain  capacity,  it  is  after  all  the  brain  quality  which 
is  most  influential  in  intellectual  manifestations. 

The  brain  texture  is  claimed  to  be  different  in  the  sexes.  The 
specific  gravity  of  the  brain  in  man  is  heavier  than  in  woman.  The 
convolutions  are  more  extensive  and  the  gray  matter  relatively  in 
larger  proportion  in  the  man. 

The  fissure  of  Rolando  separates  the  upper  or  reasoning  part  of 
the  brain  from  the  lower  or  emotional  part.  If  we  take  the  entire 
length  of  the  brain  to  be  loo,  there  will  be  found  in  woman  31.3  parts 
in  front  of  the  upper  end  of  this  fissure,  while  in  man  there  will  be 
43.9  parts.  Thus  the  emotional  is  more  developed  in  woman's  brain, 
the  reason  more  in  man's. 

Woman  is  the  more  delicate,  refined,  sympathetic,  and  loving. 
She  it  is  whose  intuitions  seem  to  come  from  Heaven,  so  tender  and 
so  true  are  they.  It  is  to  her,  this  delicate  and  loving  being,  that 
the  child-bearing  and  child-nursing  function  is  given.  The  woman 
lives  for  others,  for  her  children.  Her  body,  her  nerves,  her  brain, 
are  perfect  for  this  glory  of  motherhood. 

Nature  has  said  it — woman  in  reproduction  carries  the  race  beyond 
the  clutch  of  Death.  Man  with  heavy  bones,  powerful  muscles,  no 
recurring  wound  like  the  ^%%  bursting  from  the  ovary  ;  no  uterus  to 
bear  the  babe,  no  breast  to  suckle  the  young ;  large-brained,  coarse, 
and  strong, — it  is  he  who  is  to  make  the  fight  in  the  hard  world,  to 
protect  and  support  the  mother  and  babes,  both  helpless  for  so  long. 
The  decree  of  nature  is  plain.  *'  He  who  runs  may  read."  There 
is  no  inferiority  of  the  sexes.  Both  have  grand  duties  to  perform 
that,  if  well  done,  are  full  of  joy  and  pleasure.  The  man  cannot 
enter  the  field  of  woman.  Woman  enters  the  field  of  man  only  as  an 
inferior,  no  longer  a  woman,  nor  yet  a  man. 

Perfection  is  that  each  should  be  in  his  or  her  place.  It  is  there 
that  each  can  work  best.  The  glorious  function  of  woman  handicaps 
her  unalterably  for  anything  else.  Nature's  decree  to  her  is  to  bear 
children,  for  this  she  is  made.     Can  you  violate  a  law  of  nature 


38  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

without  paying  the  penalty  ?  Jump  from  a  housetop— will  the  law  of 
gravity  forgive  you  ?  Take  poison — will  its  deadly  action  spare  you  ? 
Cut  open  your  heart — will  it  go  on  beajiing  ?  So  the  woman  who 
violates  the  laws  of  nature  laid  down  for  her  will  be  neither  healthy 
nor  happy. 

So  also  the  man  who  violates  these  laws,  who  does  not  take  wise 
measures  to  reproduce  and  improve,  will  be  neither  healthy  nor  happy. 
It  may  be  said  here  that  the  defects  of  society  and  the  degeneracy  of 
marriage  are  more  due  to  the  ignorance,  idleness,  and  crime  of  man 
than  they  are  to  the  shortcomings  of  woman.  The  errors  of  the 
women  are  in  large  measure  due  to  the  initiative  of  the  men. 

The  accumulated  experience  of  mankind  crystallized  in  the  customs 
of  society  follow  in  a  general  way  the  law  of  nature  in  regard  to  the 
relation  and  position  of  the  sexes  and  are  not  to  be  lightly  cast  aside. 
The  married  man  has  better  prospect  of  life  than  the  bachelor.  The 
wife-mother  has  equally  a  better  prospect  of  life  to  about  the  same 
extent  over  her  single  sister.  Thus  we  see  that  avoidance  of  maternity 
on  the  ground  of  its  danger  to  life,  a  doctrine  making  nature  a  fool, 
is  the  result  of  ignorance. 

Some  occupy  themselves  with  the  justice  of  the  position  of  woman 
in  nature.  It  is  an  idle  waste  of  breath.  We  might  with  as  much 
reason  occupy  ourselves  with  the  justice  of  the  size  of  the  mouse  as 
compared  with  the  immensity  of  the  elephant,  the  rapidity  of  the 
horse  compared  to  the  slowness  of  the  snail,  the  limitation  of  the 
cow's  diet  to  grass  and  seed  compared  to  the  omnivorous  capacity  of 
the  bear.  With  equal  utility  we  might  discuss  the  justice  of  the 
destiny  of  the  graceful  porpoise  playing  for  hours  with  its  mates  about 
a  ship— intelligent,  social,  and  interesting,  condemned  to  live  in  the 
sea,  while  the  ugly,  poisonous  snake  glides  about  amongst  the  beau- 
tiful glades  of  the  ever  charming  land.  After  deciding  the  destiny 
of  the  porpoise  to  be  unjust,  we  might,  if  fools  enough,  decree  that  it 
should  be  placed  on  land  and  proceed  forthwith  to  drag  the  poor 
animal-fish  out  of  the  water  only  to  see  it  linger  in  agony,  flapping 
awkwardly  and  fruitlessly  about  until  an  early  death  came  to  relieve 
it.  So  we  might  go  on  talking  of  the  justice  of  the  delicate  flower 
being  the  prey  of  the  caterpillar,  the  caterpillar  of  the  bird,  the  bird 
the  game  of  the  wild  cat,  and  the  wild  cat  the  game  of  man.  All  this 
would  be  in  the  air,  and  the  arguments  about  it  so  many  balloons  of 
gas  that  have  only  to  be  pricked  to  collapse  in  a  formless  mass  while 
the  stink  of  them  rises  to  Heaven. 

Most  of  the  discussions  of  sex  by  the  women's  rights  people  are 
of  this  character.  They  overlook  or  defy  nature  and  they  would 
pull  the  woman  out  of  her  element  willing  or  unwilling  with 


Sex.  39 

the  fact  under  their  noses  that  the  mass  of  women  out  of  their 
sphere,  through  ignorance  or  a  hard  fate,  are,  by  their  weakness  in 
an  unnatural  position,  forced  to  inferiority.  They  are  women,  not 
men.  When  they  fight  man  there  may  be  one  here  and  there  found 
to  hold  their  own,  but  the  mass  are  driven  to  the  ragged  edge  or  into 
the  gutter. 

These  remarks  apply  especially  to  the  results  of  this  movement 
in  discouraging  marriage  and  in  promoting  prevention  of  conception 
or  inducing  abortion,  so  that  the  woman  can  fill  some  supposed  high 
destiny.  By  these  means  in  many  places  the  American  population 
has  lost  its  power  of  reproduction  and  is  not  even  able  to  hold  its  own. 
No  reflection  is  intended  on  a  woman's  learning  how  to  support  her- 
self, or  in  her  doing  worldly  work,  or  in  her  following  any  outside 
career  so  that  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  grander  destiny  of 
maternity. 

There  is  no  organized  movement  to  induce  men  to  avoid  procrea- 
tion, but  the  drift  of  society  has  for  some  time  been  in  this  direction. 
The  bachelor's  life  has  now  fewer  drawbacks  than  it  has  ever  had. 
Society  tolerates  sexual  promiscuity  on  the  part  of  the  male  in  this 
country  as  it  has  not  done  before.  The  standard  of  life  is  high  and 
difficult  to  maintain  a  family  in,  while  club  life  enables  a  single  man 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  times  with  comparative  ease.  The  men 
consequently  shirk  marriage,  and  when  married  shirk  the  responsi- 
bilities its  high  and  grand  creative  work  imposes.  In  historical 
civilizations,  dissipation  and  degradation  have  always  commenced 
with  the  men  and  have  thence  communicated  to  the  women.  When 
the  women  sink  into  that  slough  of  despond — sexual  lewdness  and 
avoidance  of  maternity — the  intelligent  or  ruling  class  disappears  and 
so  the  civilization  ends  for  want  of  perpetuation  of  the  minds  and 
morals  that  made  it. 

Small  families  is  one  of  the  first  signs  of  this  condition,  and  then 
come  no  families  at  all  amongst  the  upper  classes. 

The  time  may  arrive  when  the  best  interests  of  humanity  and 
progress  will  be  served  by  small  families.  It  is  true  that  in  nature 
the  rule  is,  as  complexity  increases  so  does  fertility  decrease.  As 
yet,  however,  there  are  no  indications  that  a  small  family  is  advan- 
tageous to  man  in  the  struggle  for  immortality  and  advance  by  the 
child.  In  a  small  family,  one  or  two  children,  the  chances  of  exter- 
mination by  death  of  these  before  procreation  has  blessed  them,  or  of 
sterility  or  impotence,  etc.,  are  greater  than  in  a  large  family,  but 
besides  this  there  is  not  only  this  relative  advantage  to  the  large 
family,  but  the  individuals  are  also  superior  to  those  of  the  small 
families.     Only  sons  and  daughters  are  rarely  celebrated.     As  a  rule, 


40  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

they  are  physically  and  morally  below  the  average  of  their  class,  they 
are  more  often  childless,  and  at  this  time  they  are  a  sign  of  weakness 
in  the  breed  and  should  be  avoided  in  marriage  selection. 

Woman's  present  emancipation  as  compared  with  her  condition  in 
the  past  is  a  result  of  a  drift  of  society  that  has  overcome  great 
opposition.  To  ciu*tail  woman's  freedom  as  it  exists  in  well  regulated 
families  now  is  a  reactionary  policy  not  to  be  thought  of.  A  man, 
however,  in  Solomon's  time,  or  even  Solomon  himself,  might  have 
considered  the  female  freedom  of  to-day  quite  incompatible  with  the 
security  of  the  family  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  best  minds  of  the 
race.  So  doubtless  it  would  have  been  if  suddenly  given  without 
preparation  to  the  women  of  the  harem. 

We  to-day  are  doubtless  equally  unable  to  properly  judge  what 
means  can  be  best  availed  of  to  at  once  improve  woman,  and  improve 
the  race  in  children  born  from  her  loins.  Consequently  no  rules  are 
laid  down  as  to  the  advisability  of  any  of  the  measures  proposed  to 
improve  women. 

Voting  and  political  duty  is  now  the  immediate  goal  of  their 
champions.  This  has  been  tried  in  numerous  places  from  the  wild 
tribes  of  the  Amoor  to  the  American  Territories  of  Wyoming,  Utah, 
and  Washington.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  improved  society  or  the 
condition  of  women.  Polygamy  in  Utah,  for  instance,  had  nothing 
to  fear  from  female  suffrage  while  it  lasted.  General  female  suffrage 
seems  likely  to  prevail  before  very  long.  Its  effects  can  then  be 
studied.  In  all  these  details  as  to  woman's  sphere,  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  should  be  given  to  cautiously  conducted  change,  demanding 
only  one  conservative  stronghold,  the  security  of  reproduction.  The 
women  who  have  gone  out  into  the  fight  of  life,  emancipated,  have 
in  many  cases  fallen  by  the  way.  Thus  while  in  the  higher  classes 
of  women  a  freedom  from  supervision  is  allowed,  which  has  been 
found  consistent  with  perfect  chastity  or  fidelity  in  marriage,  on  the 
other  hand  it  must  be  admitted  that  under  this  system  there  exists  a 
vast  army  of  prostitutes,  not  found  under  the  old  and  primitive  pa- 
triarchal regime.  But  again,  every  one  with  experience  seems  to 
agree  that  harem  women  have  less  capacity  to  protect  their  chastity 
themselves  than  our  own  women,  and  appear  ready  often  at  the  first 
occasion  to  let  it  go.  We  can  thus  perceive  that  the  necessity,  so 
plain,  that  the  man  must  have  a  security  in  the  paternity  of  his 
children  to  insure  progress  by  the  protection  of  the  mother  and 
young  during  their  increasing  period  of  helplessness  going  with  their 
increasing  improvement,  has  not  suffered  by  the  gradually  enlarged 
freedom  of  the  woman.  On  the  contrary,  an  increased  self-reliance 
has  improved  the  female,  or  most  of  those,  at  least,  who  breed. 


Sex, 


41 


It  is  not  so  many  centuries  ago  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  virgin  could 
no  more  go  out  alone,  where  she  would  meet  men,  than  the  Conti- 
nental lady  virgin  can  now.  In  morality  the  English  or  American 
g^rl  will  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  any  others  or  with  those  of 
the  past,  and  the  married  women  at  least  with  the  same  religious 
training  are  or  were  more  reliable  in  England  and  America  than  in 
the  more  conservative  countries  of  Europe.  The  word  were  is  used, 
because  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  moral  tone  of  both  England  and 
America  in  regard  to  the  chastity  of  men  and  women  is  lower  than  it 
was  from  thirty  to  fifty  years  ago.  It  is  still  true  that  we  have  no 
condition  in  our  race  similar  to  that  in  some  of  the  Austrian  provin- 
ces, where  nearly  half  the  births  are  illegitimate,  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  prevention  of  conception  or  induction  of  abortion  in  America 
gives  us  no  room  to  boast.  Of  the  two,  the  illegitimate  child  or  no 
child,  the  first,  of  course,  would  be  the  choice  of  every  one  believing 
in  the  immortality  the  child  gives. 

The  tone  of  morality  and  regard  for  female  chastity  has  gone 
through  many  ups  and  downs,  but  through  it  all  there  appears  a 
history  of  improvement.  In  the  past  an  army  generally  committed 
rape  on  conquered  women.  In  the  earliest  times  they  either  mas- 
sacred the  whole  conquered  population  or  used  them  for  slaves,  the 
women  being  destined  for  the  sexual  indulgence  of  the  victors.  Now 
no  one  would  think  of  expecting  such  acts  from  a  conquering  army. 
So  a  woman  of  the  Turks  floating  about  unguarded  can  not  be  deemed 
by  them  virtuous,  while  we  find  our  highest-class  women  more  relia- 
ble as  to  chastity  than  any  experienced  person  has  ever  found  the 
women  of  the  harem  with  all  their  guards. 

Progress  may  continue  in  this  line,  in  fact  it  must,  and  the  time 
will  doubtless  come  when  a  father  can  have  implicit  faith  in  the 
chastity  and  fidelity  of  the  mother  of  his  children  under  any  circum- 
stances. Progress  may  go  so  far,  that  a  man  and  woman  unmarried 
may  go  to  sleep  in  the  same  bed  without  any  more  suspicion  of  im- 
proper conduct  than  now  exists  when  they  walk  together.  Human 
nature,  however,  must  change  before  this  can  be  a  received  opinion, 
and  we  should  consequently  avoid  too  much  temptation. 

A  woman  who  is  single,  childless,  and  making  the  fight  of  the 
world,  is  certainly  not  doing  that  which  gives  the  largest  amount  of 
health,  happiness,  bodily  pleasure,  or  of  material  results. 

A  general  review  either  of  the  past  or  of  the  present  shows  that 
thus  far  in  the  evolution  of  society  a  position  of  women  with  ambi- 
tion or  duties  inconsistent  with  maternity  has  not  been  and  is  not 
favorable.  We  find  women  soldiers,  not  only  individually  as  Joan  of 
Arc,  but  collectively  as  in  the  Amazons  of  the  past  and  in  the  present 


42  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

female  guards  of  the  King  of  Dahomey,  vowed  to  chastity.  Under 
such  systems  the  women  do  not  gain  power,  nor  is  the  strength  of  the 
society  made  superior. 

We  find  women,  as  has  been  said,  exercising  the  privileges  of 
citizens,  as  voting  in  barbarous  communities  as  amongst  the  tribes 
on  the  Amoor  River,  also  in  more  civilized  places  as  amongst  the 
Mormon  settlements  of  Utah,  in  the  school  elections  in  Massachusetts, 
etc.  We  find  women  engaged  in  general  industry  to  the  same  extent 
as  man  in  many  primitive  societies,  and  generally  amongst  savages 
the  women  do  the  work  w^hile  the  men  look  on.  With  many  such 
tribes  the  women  seem  now  to  be  constitutionally  industrious,  while 
the  men  are  constitutionally  lazy.*  In  the  higher  types  of  slavery, 
such  as  that  formerly  prevalent  in  the  United  States,  the  slave  women 
were  obliged  to  work  to  the  extent  of  their  powers. 

In  all  these  cases  the  productive  power  of  the  society  has  not 
been  increased  nor  has  progress  been  as  rapid  as  in  societies  where 
the  superior  woman  bore  children  more  generally  than  has  ever  been 
recorded  in  societies  where  they  take  part  in  public,  military,  civil, 
or  industrial  affairs.  These  create  ambitions  inconsistent  with 
maternity. 

In  our  own  day  we  can  make  a  comparison  between  England  and 
France.  In  the  first  until  very  recently  women  have  had  compara- 
tively little  opportunity  in  engaging  in  the  outside  fight.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  highest  classes  of  women.  In  France,  on  the 
contrary,  the  women  have  for  a  considerable  time  played  an  import- 
ant part  in  both  politics  and  industry.  Their  political  influence  as 
court  favorites  and  as  centres  of  literature  or  politics  is  a  matter  of 
history.  Their  industrial  influence  may  be  observed  generally.  A 
Frenchman  and  wife  unite  their  capital  for  business  and  the  wife 
does  her  full  share  of  the  management.  Such  is  not  so  generally 
the  case  in  England. 

We  find  upon  examination  that  the  per  capita  production  of  the 
whole  population  is  greatest  in  England ;  per  capita  commerce 
ditto,  per  capita  consumption  ditto,  per  capita  service  of  money 
ditto,  children  to  family  ditto,  general  birth-rate  ditto,  stability  of 
government  ditto  ;  achievements  of  great  men,  as  discovery  of  circu- 
lation of  blood  by  Harvey,  power  of  steam  by  Watts,  law  of  gravita- 
tion by  Newton,  desent  of  man  by  Darwin,  social  evolution  by 
Spencer,  political  economy  by  Adam  Smith,  etc.,  etc.,  ditto. 

France  has  had  an  ambitious  colonial  policy  for  200  years  T\dth  a 
strong  naval  power  to  back  it  up,  still  there  is  but  one  real  colony  of 

^  See  Spencer's  Sociology. 


Sex. 


43 


Frenchmen,  that  of  lyower  Canada,  and  in  that  the  social  conditions 
and  position  of  women  are  entirely  different  from  those  in  France  ; 
while  England  taking  up  the  colonial  policy  later  has  occupied  large 
portions  of  the  world  with  people  from  its  own  loins  and  with  its  own 
language  and  development.  The  native  population  of  France  is 
slowly  retrogressive,  being  maintained  by  immigration  like  the  native 
population  of  New  England.  In  forty-two  departments  in  France 
the  deaths  exceed  the  births,  while  the  population  of  England  is  over- 
flowing. In  the  one  case  there  is  scarcely  internal  and  native  repro- 
ductive power  for  the  continuance  of  the  French  people,  while  in  the 
other  there  is  a  surplus  for  the  peaceful  conquest  of  the  world. 

In  our  own  country  we  may  perceive  already  the  effects  of  an  un- 
timely or  too  great  change  in  the  ambitions  and  duties  of  women.  In 
those  sections  such  as  New  England,  where  the  movement  is  greatest, 
greater  probably  than  anywhere  in  the  world,  there  also  is  the  repro- 
ductive power  of  the  native  population  weakest,  weaker,  for  instance, 
than  amongst  the  native  whites  in  the  South  under  a  more  unfavorable 
climate  for  this  race.  So  also  in  those  classes  (unfortunately  the 
superior  ones)  where  what  are  called  woman's  rights  are  most  be- 
lieved in  and  lived  up  to,  we  find  equally  that  the  females  are  unable 
or  unwilling  to  breed  to  an  equal  extent  with  the  females  of  immi- 
grants, such  as  those  mockingly  called  the  Pope's  Irish,  the  Canucks, 
or  French  Canadians,  etc.  Should  the  present  disposition  or  capaci- 
ties of  our  own  native  females  remain  the  same  in  this  respect  as  it 
now  is,  the  laugh  will  soon  be  on  the  other  side — in  fact,  is  fast  getting 
there  now. 

In  New  England,  as  well  as  in  nearly  every  northern  State,  it  is 
the  mentally  weakest,  most  ignorant,  and  least  developed  who  are, 
speaking  generally,  doing  the  breeding  and  fixing  the  character  of  the 
next  and  of  the  succeeding  generations.  This  is  certainly  not  to 
the  interest  of  the  nation,  of  the  race,  or  of  humanity. 

The  Catholic  religion  is  thought  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  \ 
continued  breeding  of  its  communicants,  and  as  far  as  ofl&cial  precept 
goes  it  evidently  does  so  ;  but  as  the  Catholic  population  of  France 
is  rotten  to  the  core  with  prevention,  abortion,  and  infanticide,  it  can- 
not be  the  only  cause.  Whatever  the  cause  of  sterility  is,  nowhere 
do  we  see  women's  rights  so  ardently  preached  as  in  certain  sections 
of  America,  and  nowhere  in  the  whole  world  do  we  see  the  birth- 
rate so  low  as  amongst  the  native  Americans  in  the  most  infected 
sections.  It  is  also  in  America  and  amongst  our  own  race  that  we 
see  the  greatest  crimes  against  nature  and  reproduction  in  both  sexes 
anywhere  known.  Nowhere  else  is  abortion,  infant  murder,  mastur- 
bation, and  the  prevention  of  conception  so  general.     Where  these 


44  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

crimes  are  most  frequent  there  also  is  the  woman's  rights'  movement 
strongest.  These  errors  are  not  so  much  due  to  women's  rights  per- 
haps as  are  women's  rights  due  to  a  diseased  condition,  the  common 
parent  of  both  these  tendencies  to  steriHty . 

The  past  history  of  mankind  shows  us  women  in  prominent  posi- 
tions or  equal  to  man  in  the  outside  fight  in  primitive  and  in  some 
advanced  societies.  These  conditions  thus  far  have  not  proved  fav- 
orable to  progress.  The  reason  doubtless  is  that  the  superior  women 
at  a  certain  point  of  intelligence  refuse  to  breed,  and  the  best  of  the 
society  is  in  that  way  exterminated. 

A  higher  and  better  position  for  woman,  in  which  she  has  more 
dignity  and  receives  more  consideration  than  in  any  primitive  time, 
is  a  universal  accompaniment  of  progress  beyond  the  pastoral-patri- 
archal type.  Before  that  stage  woman's  position  in  progress  was, 
from  a  relatively  equal  position  to  man,  to  one  of  greater  subordina- 
tion to  him,  out  of  which  change  came  permanent  marriage  and 
security  of  paternity. 

We  may  say,  in  a  general  way,  that  a.  woman  who  is  not  or  can- 
not be  a  mother  has  neither  the  perfection  of  hope,  health,  or  hap- 
piness. While,  on  the  other  hand,  the  mother,  the  woman  in  her 
sphere  as  nature  has  decreed,  is  in  the  mass  happy,  healthy,  and 
superior, — I  may  say,  grand  with  the  aureole  of  maternity  sanctifying 
her,  for  the  mother  is  a  "holy  of  holies  "  and  a  fountain  of  life. 

The  comparison  to  be  made  in  every-day  life  one  might  think 
would  be  enough  without  very  deep  inquiry  into  the  science  of  the 
matter  as  to  what  woman's  happiest  sphere  is.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  work-girl,  by  no  law  of  man,  but  by  the  law  of  nature,  is  weak 
in  the  outside  fight.  She  is  forced  to  the  lowest  wages  of  her  voca- 
tion. Always  on  the  verge  alone  on  her  way  to  work  and  on  her 
return  to  a  lonely  room,  to  what  temptation  is  she  not  exposed  ?  If 
she  will  cede  her  virtue  she  can  be  in  affluence,  if  pretty,  in  a  mo- 
ment. The  money  may  support  some  poor  relative,  she  thinks. 
The  first  step  taken,  and  the  doors  of  a  hell  in  this  world  have 
opened  for  her. 

Promiscuous  intercourse  soon  brings  inflammation,  maternity 
becomes  impossible,  she  is  no  longer  a  woman,  only  a  slop-pail  of 
infamy.  What  degradation  there  is  in  a  prostitute,  what  despair, 
no  one  who  has  not  seen  them  in  their  early  decay  can  tell !  For 
them  death  strikes  off"  a  chain.  How  will  you  blame  the  poor  child  ? 
She  is  so  delicate,  sympathetic,  full  of  emotion,  ready  yearning  to 
love,  with  the  monthly  periods  when  continuous  work  is  wellnigh 
impossible.  She  is  in  competition  and  contest  with  rough,  hard 
man.     She  is  a  child  of  hope  and  trust,  unprotected,  homeless,  un- 


Sex. 


45 


husbanded.     Can  you  expect  her  to  starve  both  body  and  heart  for 
the  good  opinion  of  a  society  that  will  not  know  her  ? 

Here,  on  the  one  side,  you  have  the  woman,  as  we  see,  thrown 
into  the  relentless  contest  of  life.  How  many  fall  a  prey  to  shame, 
that  living  death  ;  alas,  an  evening  walk  in  the  streets  of  any  city, 
thick  in  fallen  women  as  autumn  is  in  fallen  leaves,  will  but  too 
sadly  tell. 

Let  us  take  the  other  condition  of  women  in  our  midst :  married, 
a  mother,  queen  of  her  home;  her  lisping  children  at  her  knee. 
The  husband,  fighting  the  bitter  battles  outside,  comes  back  with  joy 
to  his  home.  His  little  triumphs  in  the  world  are  nothing  to  the 
triumph  she  has  borne  him  and  achieved  in  immortalizing  him  and 
herself  in  their  children.  Nothing  that  he  has,  nothing  that  he  has 
done,  does  he  consider  of  value  compared  to  one  of  them. 

Such  a  woman,  as  Michelet  says,  is  a  religion.  So  tender,  so 
true,  so  loving,  so  loved.  Sweet  cares  of  the  wife  to  love,  soothe, 
and  encourage  her  husband,  and  see  his  energy  renewed  at  her  dear 
touch.  Sweet  cares  of  the  mother  to  nurse  her  child,  to  watch  its 
powers  unfold,  with  the  devotion,  tenderness,  and  insight  alone  pos- 
sessed by  woman.  She  travels  on  the  path  of  life  hand  in  hand  with 
her  children,  happy  and  glorious.  Oh,  holy  mother,  they  who 
would  raise  their  finger  to  prevent  your  joyous  destiny  are  full  of 
folly,  full  of  crime  ! 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  advising  a  prohibition  of  woman's 
entry  into  any  sphere  of  life.  On  the  contrary,  I  believe  fully  in  the 
utilization  by  women  of  all  their  powers,  physical  and  mental,  both 
for  their  own  improvement  and  for  that  of  the  race.  But  I  hold  that 
all  such  secondary  activities  should  always  be  subordinated  to  the 
one  great  function  of  woman — child-bearing.  Nor  do  I  overlook  the 
fact  that  procreation  is  the  one  great  function  of  man  also,  to  which 
everything  should  be  secondary. 

Some  men  and  some  women  have  an  idea  that  there  are  duties  in 
life  and  acts,  such  as  teaching  or  creating  works  of  art,  literature, 
etc.,  which  are  grander  and  of  more  value  to  the  race  than  the  cre- 
ating of  human  beings  in  their  own  image.  This  idea  I  believe  to 
be  erroneous.  I  have  sufficiently  set  forth  the  individual  aspects  of 
this  matter  in  other  chapters  ;  a  few  words,  therefore,  on  the  interests 
of  the  race  will  be  sufficient  here. 

In  the  lowest  geological  state  in  which  evidences  of  man  are 
found  there  is  unity  in  this,  that  all  implements  credited  to  man  are 
of  the  most  primitive  types.  In  succeeding  strata,  while  these  primi- 
tive types  often  persist,  higher  and  higher  types  take  possession,  and 
we  have  thus  in  the  earth's  crust  a  history  which  demonstrates  man 


46  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

to  have  progressed  from  a  race  or  races  uniformly  lower  than  any- 
known  to-day,  to  our  present  highest  civilization.  In  this  era,  how- 
ever, all  have  not  come  to  the  highest  plane.  I^arge  bodies  of  human 
beings,  even  in  the  most  developed  countries,  are  far  below  the 
highest  men  and  women  in  brain  power.  Brain  power  is  the  line  on 
which  humanity  has  improved.  This  power  depends  largely  on 
brain  size,  convolutions,  etc.  Taking  the  first  two  we  find  that  in 
the  primitive  tribes  of  our  day  both  brain  weight  and  convolutions 
are  deficient  as  compared  to  these  conditions  in  the  highest  men. 

Amongst  Andaman  Islanders  and  Australians  the  convolutions 
of  the  brain  are  comparatively  simple,  while  the  total  weight  of  the 
male  brain  has  been  noted  as  low  as  38  oz.,  and  will  probably 
average  about  42  oz.  In  the  male  negro  in  America  it  is  44  oz.  In 
the  male  American  the  average  brain  weight  is  a  little  over  49  oz. 
The  most  primitive  savage  has  no  mental  grasp  compared  to  ours  ; 
he  cannot  count  over  five  ;  his  language  has  but  few  words,  and  his 
numerals  give  out  after  three  or  five,  and  are  replaced  by  the  word 
"many.'*  The  negro,  a  few  steps  higher,  shows  his  deficiency  in 
being  unable  to  cope  with  the  white  man.  He  has  not  yet  become 
a  composer  or  an  inventor  of  importance. 

Now  the  history  of  this  development  of  the  highest  types  of  brain 
power  gives  every  indication  of  having  occupied  a  long  period  of 
time,  probably  tens  of  thousands  of  years,  perhaps  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  years.  The  point  that  I  make  is  that  no  mere  book,  statue, 
picture,  invention,  work  of  charity  or  philanthropy,  possible  to  be 
done  by  an  individual  man  or  woman,  can  compensate  the  race  for 
the  loss  through  non-reproduction  of  the  brain  developed  through 
ages  of  time  to  the  capacity  of  such  a  work.  In  other  words,  it  is 
more  important  to  the  race  to  hold  by  reproduction  the  brain  of  an 
Aristotle,  Shakespeare,  or  Spencer,  than  to  have  the  works  they 
have  done,  and  to  toil  through  ages  more  to  develop  their  powers 
again  in  developed  brains. 

To  the  highest  type  of  brain  all  human  things  are  possible.  As 
the  brain  is  inferior  in  structure,  so  its  manifestations  must  be  in- 
ferior. It  is  probable  that  the  lower  types  of  brain,  even  amongst 
the  developed  races,  would  require  thousands  of  years  to  reach  the 
highest  brain  power  in  the  same  races.  These  considerations  should 
accentuate  the  importance  of  careful  selection  in  breeding  amongst 
men  and  clearly  show  the  value  to  the  race  of  perpetuating  superior 
brain  development  in  children. 

A  brainy  woman  can  do  no  work  to  compensate  the  world  for  the 
extinction  of  her  brain  in  sterility.  It  is  at  sterility  that  the  line 
must  be  drawn. 


There  are  still  other  differences  in  the  constitution  of  the  two 
sexes.  As  the  woman  has  the  highest  capacity  of  devotion  in  the 
use  of  the  reproductive  power,  as  she  has  the  tenderest  and  most 
spiritualized  capacity  for  the  highest  love,  so,  unfortunately,  she 
also  has  the  capacity  of  prostituting  these  powers,  and  of  sinking 
into  an  abyss  of  infamy  deeper  than  is  possible  for  man  or  any 
animal. 

With  man  the  use  of  the  reproductive  powers  depends  not  only 
on  consent  and  the  will,  but  also  on  desire  or  instinct.  He  must  be 
attracted,  he  must  have  passion.  This  is  not  the  case  with  woman. 
Consent  is  enough.  As  a  corollary  of  this  we  find  another  difference. 
A  man  cannot  be  forced  to  the  sexual  act  ;  a  woman  may  be.  Thus 
if  a  man,  we  will  suppose,  was  in  the  power  of  some  Asiatic  despot, 
and  was  given  the  choice  of  immediate  death  or  of  having  a  child  by 
a  woman  loathsome  with  some  horrid  disease,  her  face  sloughing 
away  with  cancer  and  revolting  to  smell,  look  upon,  or  be  near,  he 
might  wish  to  save  his  life,  he  might  be  willing  to  prostitute  his 
powers  by  taking  the  alternative  proposed,  and  still  he  could  not, — it 
would  be  impossible.  With  a  woman  it  would  be  different :  offered 
a  similar  alternative — death  or  to  have  a  child  by  some  misery  of  a 
man, — she  by  the  mere  will  could  consent  to  the  act,  receive  the  man, 
take  his  impress,  carry  him  for  nine  months,  his  blood  in  her 
through  the  child,  and  then  bear  into  the  world  his  diseased  image 
to  martyrize  her  maternal  love,  and  she  still  stamped  in  her  very 
nature  for  life  with  the  man. 

The  man  must  be  the  head  and  protector  of  the  breed  and  family. 
For  though  he  can  sink  low  in  the  use  of  the  reproductive  powers, 
it  is  impossible  for  him  to  become  a  prostitute,  or  to  sink  to  the 
depths  possible  to  the  female. 

A  man  in  youthful  levity,  with  untrustworthy  companions,  may 
be  led  off,  take  too  much  stimulant  or  narcotic,  and  pass  the  night 
insensible  and  no  one  knows  where.  The  next  morning  he  rises  full 
of  headache  and  repentance.  If  there  is  good  stuff  in  him  he  deter- 
mines to  do  such  acts  no  more,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  His  repro- 
ductive powers  are  safe.  A  young  girl  with  the  same  liberty  may 
be  similarly  misled,  but  how  terrible  may  be  the  result !  Her 
maidenhood  ravished,  her  purity  gone,  her  maternity  capacity 
seized  by  the  fertilizing  germ  of  some  drunken  pimp,  perhaps  out- 
raged again  and  again  ! 

Again,  a  boy  or  man  passing  in  a  lonely  place  may  be  set  upon 
by  a  band  of  robbers,  wounded,  knocked  down,  his  money  taken; 
he  rises,  his  cuts  are  bound  up ;  in  a  little  while  it  is  as  though 
nothing  had  happened.     The  girl  or  woman  thus  lonely  and  at- 


48  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

tacked  may  lose  more  than  money,  more  than  consciousness,  more 
than  life.  She  may,  and  as  a  rule  when  so  exposed  does,  lose  honor 
and  purity.  She  may  carry  from  the  place  the  germ  of  some  repul- 
sive life. 

If  a  doctor  were  required  at  the  dead  of  night,  and  had  to  be  sent 
for  through  a  country  infested  by  roughs,  whom  would  you  send, 
your  son  or  your  daughter,  your  boy  or  your  girl  ?  The  question 
answers  itself.  The  girl,  being  exposed  to  so  much  greater  risks  so 
deadly  to  fall  under,  and  she  being,  besides,  so  much  the  better 
nurse,  the  boy  would  be  sent  by  the  judicious  parent,  while  the  girl, 
with  her  sympathy  and  her  tenderness,  watched  with  the  sick.  So 
it  should  be  in  all  life  matters.  From  these  causes  we  can  clearly 
perceive  that  what  is  proper  for  a  man  or  boy  may  be  highly  im- 
proper in  a  woman  or  girl, — not  merely  by  reason  of  the  prejudices 
of  society,  but  by  reason  of  the  imminent  peril  some  situations  have 
for  the  sex.  A  woman  or  girl  ought  not  to  go  about  alone  in  rough 
or  doubtful  places.  Protection  and  succor  should  never  be  far  away 
from  the  female. 

To  recapitulate,  we  find  man  the  stronger  of  the  sexes.  The 
woman  is  the  more  delicate  and  sympathetic.  She  has  smaller 
bones,  less  muscle,  has  less  power  mentally  and  physically  for  organ- 
ization and  the  contest  of  life,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  she  has  a 
larger  vitality  and  development  of  the  sympathetic  nervous  system. 
If  she  remain  a  virgin,  she  has,  during  the  period  of  her  human 
force,  fourteen  to  forty  (Anglo-Saxons),  the  menses  at  least  once  a 
month.  The  menses  cease  upon  an  average  several  years  sooner  in 
the  virgin  than  in  the  mother  of  a  family.  This  indicates  that  the 
vitality  of  the  mother,  instead  of  being  diminished  by  childbirth, 
has  been  increased. 

If  she  enters  man's  occupations,  this  function  often  increases  in 
violence  and  frequency,  or  becomes  altogether  suppressed,  with  ac- 
companying general  nervous  derangement.  Thus,  for  some  days  in 
every  month,  she  is  at  a  disadvantage  in  any  contest.  It  must  be 
clear  that  even  when  she  refuses  or  cannot  enter  the  career  of  a 
mother,  she  still  remains  at  a  disadvantage  for  any  other.  If  she 
perform  the  duties  of  a  mother,  that  is  enough  of  greatness.  She  is 
by  this  function  handicapped  for  outside  occupations,  for  child- 
bearing  must  take  place  in  the  period  of  greatest  vitality,  when  the 
battle  of  life  is  hottest. 

Women  must  have  children  or  farewell  to  the  race.  Children  or 
extermination,  such  is  our  alternative.  Women  cannot  have  chil- 
dren and  also  fight  men  in  the  contest  of  life  ;  the  handicap  is  too 
enormous.     The  logical  conclusion  is  beyond  escape.     Women  for 


Sex,  49 

the  home,  men  for  the  fight.  Women  should  not  be  deceived  by  the 
foolish  into  thinking  this  destiny  inferior.  A  correct  measure  in  this 
regard  is  influence.  Woman  as  mother  in  the  home  not  only  influ- 
ences her  own  time,  but  the  future  through  the  child  ;  for  the  child 
is  almost  always  what  its  mother  makes  it — that  is,  as  far  as  any 
influence  outside  of  its  own  special  individuality  after  birth  can 
make  it. 

In  infancy  the  impressions  are  most  permanent.  Those  impres- 
sions come  from  the  mother,  or  should  do  so.  Thus  she  holds  the 
generation  that  follows  her,  and  has  really  the  superior  position,  if 
there  is  such  an  one.  The  contest  of  life,  where  the  man  belongs,  is 
nothing  but  a  quantity  of  drudgery  and  detail  subsidiary  entirely  to 
the  main  point  of  perpetuating  the  race  through  the  child.  As 
woman  has  most  to  do  with  this,  the  main  and  essential  question  of 
life,  she  again  may  be  said  to  have  the  superior  position. 

lyct  no  woman  be  led  willingly  to  the  slaughter.  For  her  to  fight 
with  man  is  a  losing  fight,  ridiculous  and  useless.  She  should  take 
the  hand  the  strong  man  offers  when  she  is  true  to  her  duties,  and 
go  with  him.  He  for  the  battle,  she  for  the  serene  home.  Let  her 
be  earnest,  loving,  and  virtuous,  and  she  will  not  lack  a  man  to  do 
his  part.  Exceptions  do  occur  where  the  woman  is  all  she  should 
be,  but  the  man  is  wanting.  Such  a  situation  is  indeed  unfortu- 
nate. The  great  number  of  unhappy  unions  of  men  and  women 
is  due  to  the  ignorance  of  the  man  and  woman  of  the  grandeur  of 
their  functions,  and  of  the  peculiar  difference  of  sphere  of  man  and 
woman. 

A  discreet,  virtuous,  and  loving  woman,  who  has  knowledge, 
will,  as  a  rule,  have  a  happy  home,  and  a  happy  home  contains  for 
woman  more  possibility  of  joy  and  of  greatness  than  any  other  place. 
The  home  is  created  by  woman,  defended  and  supported  by  man. 

What  the  future  may  have  in  store  for  us  no  one  knows.  We 
must  from  the  limitations  of  our  faculties  be  guided  by  what  little 
we  know  of  the  past  and  present.  From  this  point  of  view  there  is 
nothing  to  indicate  that  society  can  even  exist  with  women  unable 
or  unwilling  to  bear  children.  There  is  nothing  in  the  history  of 
nature  to  give  any  color  to  the  belief  that  the  reproduction  of  the 
race  is  going  to  be  less  complex  and  force-requiring  than  it  is. 
There  is  nothing  to  show  that  women  can  be  emancipated  from 
child-bearing. 

An  examination  of  nature  would  lead  to  quite  a  contrary  view. 
Development  has  been  from  the  simple  to  the  complex  and  from 
generalized  functions  of  matter  to  specialized  ones.  The  first  and 
simplest  life  reproduces  by  division  and  is  sexless.     All  the  fimc- 


50  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

tions  of  this  earliest  life  seem  interchangeable.  In  some  low  forms  of 
life,  by  no  means  the  most  primitive,  the  living  being  may  be  turned 
inside  out,  when  the  stomach  performs  the  duties  of  the  skin  and  the 
skin  performs  the  work  of  the  stomach. 

From  such  simple  forms  we  see  life  becoming  more  developed  only 
as  it  becomes  more  complex  and  specialized.  One  of  the  first 
specializations  of  function  both  in  plants  and  animals  was  sex.  At 
first  reproduction  went  on  without  sex,  so  life  went  on  without 
specialized  organs.  Thus  a  living  being  of  the  most  primitive  type 
might  be  cut  in  two  and  each  part  live  on  as  though  nothing  unusual 
had  occurred.  Developed  human  beings  cannot  thus  part  from  their 
specialized  organs.  The  loss  of  the  liver,  the  kidneys,  of  the  lungs, 
of  the  heart,  is  in  either  case  at  once  fatal.  Equally  the  loss  of  the 
function  of  child-bearing  by  women  would  sweep  humanity  from  the 
earth  in  a  hundred  years. 

Development  seems  to  necessitate  the  passage  of  advanced  indi- 
viduals or  classes  through  all  previous  stages  of  progress  before 
becoming  useful  in  their  new  sphere.  Thus  the  young  of  man  starts 
with  the  spore,  goes  through  the  ^%%  period,  resembles  a  fish,  then  a 
dog,  then  a  monkey,  then  the  lowest  intellectual  man,  and  so  on  up 
to  the  highest  standard  he  is  born  to,  passing  meantime  through 
innumerable  and  inseparable  stages  of  change. 

From  this  cause  the  young  of  man  having  the  most  ground  to 
pass  over  as  compared  to  the  young  of  any  other  creature,  is  by  far 
the  longest  time  helpless  and  dependent. 

Early  specialization  in  reproduction  shows  us  the  eggs  dropped 
out  and  fertilized  externally  as  in  the  fishes.  Next  we  see  eggs  ferti- 
lized in  the  female,  but  the  ^%%  laid  and  left  to  care  for  itself ;  the 
young  reptile  coming  from  the  ^%%  to  the  warm  sand  being  fully  able 
to  care  for  itself.  In  birds  the  ^^'g  is  laid  and  watched  and  sat  upon 
and  the  young  looked  after  for  a  time.  In  the  marsupials  the  period 
of  gestation  is  longer,  but  the  young  are  so  immature  that  they  are 
carried  by  the  female  in  a  natural  pouch  for  a  certain  period,  thus 
going  through  a  sort  of  internal  and  external  gestation. 

The  higher  we  go  the  longer  is  the  period  of  gestation  and  help- 
lessness combined.  Some  animals,  as  the  elephant  and  the  cow,  have 
longer  periods  of  gestation  than  woman,  but  the  young  of  no  animal 
is  so  long,  or  anything  like  so  long,  in  passing  from  the  time  from 
the  fertilization  of  the  ^%%  to  the  time  when  they  are  self-maintaining. 

The  young  of  man  being  so  long  helpless  requires  additional 
time  and  care  firom  the  mother.  Woman's  form,  mind,  sympathies, 
and,  in  fact,  her  whole  nature,  have  developed  in  harmony  with  this 
necessity. 


Sex. 


51 


As  a  recapitulation  we  may  say  that  sexual  reproduction  in  all 
the  simpler  forms  of  life  was  short  in  duration  for  but  a  comparatively 
small  compass  of  previous  evolution  had  to  be  repeated  in  the  young. 
The  Qgg  generally  matured  outside  of  the  mother  and  independently 
of  her,  and  the  young  when  coming  from  the  o^gg  were  at  once  ready 
to  care  for  themselves  without  parental  protection. 

As  evolution  and  improvement  progressed,  the  young  passed 
through  longer  and  longer  periods  of  helpless  infancy  either  in  or 
out  of  the  mother,  or  both,  and  needed  more  and  more  protection  and 
care.  As  the  necessities  of  the  case  changed,  so  the  relation  of  the 
sexes  changed.  At  first  reproduction  demanded  the  female  for  the 
&gg  and  the  male  only  for  fertilization  ;  consequently  in  plants,  in- 
sects, and  the  less  developed  forms  of  life,  we  find  the  male  sex 
generally  inferior  to  the  female. 

But  as  the  young  made  more  and  more  demands  upon  the  mother, 
and  eventually  the  young  came  to  be  born  helpless  as  in  man,  demand- 
ing care  and  help  for  the  long  period  required  by  them  to  pass  through 
former  stages  of  development,  the  necessities  for  a  protector  arose, 
and  we  find  the  male  sex  in  all  the  superior  animals  the  strongest 
and  most  capable  outside  fighters  From  the  necessities  of  the  high- 
est improvement  arose  marriage  and  the  family  in  man. 

This  sketch  of  the  outline  of  the  necessary  development  of 
motherly  qualities  coincident  with  the  development  of  life  gives 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  a  farther  advance  and  development  of 
man  will  leave  the  chain  of  experience  unbroken,  and  that  accom- 
panying it  will  be  a  development  of  further  motherly  qualities  and 
capacities  to  carry  the  young  through  a  still  longer  period  of  help- 
lessness. The  female  sex  is  a  necessity  of  development.  As  time 
and  development  have  progressed,  the  sex  has  become  more  and  more 
individuated. 

Even  in  man  we  see  the  male  and  female  differ  less  in  all  respects 
amongst  the  primitive  races  than  amongst  the  highest,  so  also  we 
see  the  children  of  savages  mature  far  more  quickly  and  cease  their 
mental  growth  much  sooner  than  those  of  civilized  man. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  it  is  amongst  savage  and  primitive  races  that  woman's  right  to 
work  is  not  denied,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  she  is  continually 
forced  to  the  unexciting  drudgery  of  industrial  work  in  societies  of 
the  militant  type.  As  the  savage  child  is  able  to  take  care  of  itself 
much  sooner  than  the  civilized  one,  this  was  not  so  much  a  hardship 
to  primitive  women  as  it  would  be  to  the  highly  civilized. 

Progress  in  mankind  first  demanded  the  enslavement  of  women 
for  the  foundation  of   the  family.     The  family  once  secured  and 


52  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

society  established  firmly  on  it  as  a  foundation,  we  find  farther  prog- 
ress accompanied  by  a  relief  for  the  female  from  excessive  drudgery 
or  the  outside  industrial  fight,  leaving  her  more  opportunity  for  the 
grand  duties  of  reproduction,  of  child-bearing,  and  of  forming  the 
next  generation. 

Amongst  the  mammals  the  female  must  fight,  and  for  the  most 
part  secure  her  own  subsistence  as  well  as  that  of  her  young.  It  is 
only  amongst  the  higher  types  that  the  male  protects  the  female  and 
the  young.  With  savage  man  the  woman  no  longer  has  to  fight, 
but  all  the  drudgery  is  hers.  It  is  amongst  the  most  civilized  men 
and  during  the  most  progressive  periods  that  we  find  the  woman 
given  most  time  for  reproduction.  Considering  this  fact,  it  may  well 
be  deemed  doubtful  whether  the  present  tendency  of  society  by  late 
marriage,  avoidance  of  childbirth,  etc.,  to  throw  women  on  their 
own  resources  and  to  make  of  them  outside  industrial  and  political 
competitors,  is  not  a  reversion  to  an  inferior  type  rather  than  an 
advance, 

A  number  of  facts  in  the  history  of  mankind  and  in  the  present 
social  organization  of  primitive  industrial  societies  give  a  strong 
probability  to  this  view.  While  it  is  true  that  those  primitive  militant 
organizations  from  which  the  marriage,  polygamous  first  and 
monogamous  afterward,  the  security  of  paternity,  the  family,  and  the 
government  of  the  present  dominant  races  sprang,  have  shown  dis- 
regard toward  the  rights  of  women,  it  is  not  true  of  all  primitive 
societies.  On  the  contrary,  primitive  industrial  societies  all  place 
women  in  a  much  better  position  from  the  woman's  rights'  point  of 
view  than  the  militant  societies.  In  those  industrial  organizations 
"where  sexual  intercourse  is  more  or  less  promiscuous,  in  those  where 
the  unions  are  temporary,  and  in  those  where  they  are  polyandrous, 
the  first  idea  of  inheritance  must  be  on  the  maternal  side,  for  there 
is  little  if  any  security  of  paternity. 

The  importance  of  women  in  society,  owing  to  this  fact,  must  be 
increased.  They  are  not  captured,  because  these  societies  are  peace- 
ful, and  the  lack  of  chastity  makes  it  useless  to  buy  them.  They 
are  not,  then,  looked  on  as  property,  and  not  treated  as  such. 
Women  in  primitive  industrial  societies,  and  in  some  militant  ones, 
as  the  Iroquois,  derived,  doubtless,  from  them,  have  a  considerable 
choice  in  selecting  their  husbands,  are  often  chiefs  or  rulers,  and  on 
separation  or  divorce  have  a  share  of  the  property,  usually  one  half, 
and  take  the  children.  Their  right  to  inheritance  of  property  is  rec- 
ognized. With  this  high  position  of  women  for  barbarians,  we  find 
a  weak  social  organization.  Nowhere  have  such  societies  been  able 
to  survive  the  competition  of  those  societies  where  the  patriarchal 


Sex. 


53 


form  has  prevailed,  in  which  women  have  had  a  comparatively  much 
inferior  standing,  often  to  the  extent,  in  the  earliest  militant  type, 
of  being  treated  with  great  cruelty.  These  primitive  industrial  socie- 
ties, as  far  as  they  exist  to-day,  are  confined  to  localities  either  in- 
capable of  supporting  a  high  civilization,  or  so  isolated  as  to  protect 
them  from  the  destruction  of  their  fellow-men.  Thus  we  find  the 
lyapps  and  Esquimaux  within  the  arctic  circle,  the  Thibetans  on 
the  high  arid  table-lands  of  the  Himalayas,  the  Andamanese  and 
Dyaks  on  tropical  islands,  the  Nairs  on  the  hills  of  India,  the  Pueblos 
on  the  deserts  of  Arizona,  etc.,  all  of  this  type.  We  must,  then,  be 
brought  to  the  conclusion  that  in  primitive  man  the  freedom  and 
high  position  of  woman  was  not,  and  is  not,  conducive  to  chastity, 
to  the  security  of  paternity,  which  gives  the  man  a  definite  object  to 
protect  and  provide  for  a  mother  and  his  children  by  her,  and  con- 
sequently to  the  creation  of  the  family,  from  which  our  civilized 
forms  of  government  spring.  Without  security  of  paternity  the  pro- 
gressive increase  of  the  helpless  period  in  the  young  essential  to  the 
improving  man  has  no  means  of  being  provided  for.  Therefore, 
these  primitive  industrial  types  have  been  swept  away  or  into 
corners  by  the  more  progressive  patriarchal  organizations.  We  are 
now  ordering  our  civilization  more  and  more  on  the  industrial  type. 
Our  women  now  inherit  property,  may  take  the  initiative  in  divorce, 
and  are  commencing  to  vote,  as  in  the  primitive  failures  of  society 
(natives  of  Amoor  River).  Woman's  chastity,  as  with  them,  is  less 
considered  than  it  was  in  the  militant  type,  and  few  people  think  of 
stoning  adulterers,  or  of  killing  the  seducer  of  a  wife  or  daughter. 
Where  it  is  done,  for  the  most  part,  is  amongst  the  militant  ex-slave- 
holders of  the  South.  The  position  of  prostitutes,  while  still  deserv- 
edly damned,  is  much  more  tenable,  in  this  country  at  least,  than 
it  was  twenty-five  years  ago. 

The  family  has  less  cohesion  and  respect  than  formerly.  The 
state  has  taken  many  of  its  functions,  such  as  infant  education.  As 
Spencer  says  :  * '  It  may  well  be  surmised  that  in  some  directions  the 
change  in  woman's  situation  has  gone  too  far,  but  this  need  not  and 
ought  not  to  put  any  limit  on  her  progress  in  true  directions."  What 
these  true  directions  are  is  not  now  known,  but  the  true  measure  for 
woman's  position  now  and  hereafter  must  always  be  the  interest  of 
the  generation,  and  generations  to  come. 

The  cruelty  and  oppression  of  woman  by  man  in  the  social  or- 
ganizations that  have  everywhere  preceded  man's  civilization,  took 
the  form  of  forcing  the  women  to  do  all  the  work  of  which  they  were 
capable.  The  men  fought,  the  women  worked.  The  limit  of  abuse 
and  drudgery  was  the  line  beyond  which  the  women  could  not  bear 


54  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

enough  children  to  sustain  the  tribe.  With  all  this  heavy  outdoor 
labor  child-bearing  and  child  care  could  not  be  fully  developed,  and 
it  is  this  reason  which  has  given  societies  giving  their  women  better 
treatment  and  work  more  suited  to  their  reproductive  duties  the 
advantage. 

A  strong  indication  that  sex  cannot  be  aborted  in  its  reproductive 
function  without  injury,  is  the  effect  upon  the  body  and  character  of 
men  or  women  by  the  destruction  of  their  respective  reproductive 
organs.  The  mutilated  man  at  once  loses  physical  force  and  endur- 
ance. His  voice  changes,  approaching  the  feminine  type,  and  his 
moral  tone  and  force  of  character  are  impaired,  if  not  destroyed.  The 
gait,  attitude,  and  tastes  all  take  on  a  feminine  quality,  and  eunuchs 
as  a  rule  lose  with  their  manhood  the  timbre  of  voice  and  courage  of 
their  sex. 

Women  who  have  their  ovaries  removed  generally  depart  from 
the  female  type  and  assimilate  to  that  of  man.  Often  the  beard  com- 
mences to  grow,  the  mammary  glands  become  atrophied,  the  voice 
becomes  gruffer  and  more  masculine — the  gait,  attitudes,  and  tastes 
become  more  and  more  those  of  men  ;  yet  the  force  and  structure  are 
lacking.  A  sterilized  woman  can  never  be  a  man,  though  destroyed 
as  a  woman.  A  sterilized  man  destroyed  as  a  man  is  not  by  far 
made  participant  in  the  glories  of  woman.  Both  from  something 
become  nothing. 

These  reflections  should  cause  us  to  bear  in  mind  the  limitations 
of  sex  both  on  the  male  side  for  some  things  and  on  the  female  side 
for  others,  and  to  consider  them  in  life  plans  and  actions.  It  cannot 
be  good  economy  to  undertake  a  man's  work  with  a  woman,  nor  a 
woman's  work  with  a  man.  In  many  things  nature  has  issued  her 
fiat  and  it  is  impossible  for  the  one  sex  to  do  the  duty  of  the  other. 

The  little  boy  seeks  enjoyment  in  the  contest,  playing  horse  with 
the  tin  soldier,  with  a  drum,  in  hunting  or  adventure.  The  books  he 
first  takes  to  are  histories,  accounts  of  travels,  adventure,  piracy,  or 
war.  The  girl  is  irom  the  first  naturally  pleased  with  playing  home 
and  housekeeper  with  her  doll,  its  dresses,  and  its  house.  It  is  an 
exception  ever  with  the  freest  choice  that  a  girl  takes  to  the  rough 
games  of  the  boy.  When  she  reads,  it  is  the  novel  with  love  leading 
to  marriage.     The  boy  seldom  takes  to  the  amusement  of  the  girl. 

Thus  the  instinct  in  the  individual  of  the  two  sexes,  at  its  earliest 
manifestations,  is  without  difiiculty  seen  to  be  different.  The  out- 
ward appearances  of  the  body  characterizing  so  distinctly  the  two 
sexes  is  but  an  index  of  the  internal  workings  of  the  flesh  functions 
and  of  the  nerv^es.  To  an  observer  these  internal  qualities  are  as 
different  in  the  sexes  as  is  their  outward  appearance. 


Sex.  55 

The  difference  in  appearance,  in  temperament,  in  tastes,  and  in 
action  between  the  two  sexes  is  so  considerable  that  it  is  beyond  escape 
from  even  the  inattentive.  The  natural  lives  of  the  two  sexes  in  their 
relation  to  each  other  are  perhaps  best  shown  when  circumstances 
break  down  the  usual  conventional  relations  that  surround  us.  In 
case  of  sudden  accident,  trouble,  or  danger  the  woman  looks  to  the 
man  for  help  and  protection.  When  the  danger  is  so  great  as  to 
place  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  above  everything  else,  the  fight 
for  life  is  won  by  the  strongest  in  muscle,  vitality,  and  judgment,  as 
the  case  may  be.  It  is  on  such  dreadful  occasions  as  panics,  fires  in 
public  places,  and  wrecks  at  sea  that  we  observe  the  men  either 
grandly  and  voluntarily  sacrificing  their  lives  to  the  women  and 
children,  or  in  a  frenzy  of  life  instinct  trampling  them  down  in  theatre 
doorways,  crowding  them  out  of  the  boats  of  sinking  vessels,  or  aban- 
doning them  to  the  fearful  fate  of  fire  or  flood.  Sad  events  these  are, 
sometimes  showing  grand  qualities  of  character  and  heroism,  some- 
times uncovering  a  relentless  demon  of  selfish  cruelty.  In  either  case, 
the  power  of  man  and  the  weakness  of  woman  in  the  outside  fight 
are  brought  into  strong  relief. 

The  tendencies  of  our  time  are  toward  a  greater  assimilation  of 
the  activities  of  the  sexes  than  has  hitherto  prevailed.  This  as- 
similation in  our  civilization  commenced  in  the  feudal  ages,  and  has 
several  culminating  points,  one  coincident  with  the  collapse  of  the 
Italian  municipal  republics,  one  at  the  fall  of  the  French  feudal  aris- 
tocracy, and  one  now.  In  the  civilizations  of  the  past  we  find,  as  in 
our  own  time,  the  rising  period  to  correspond  with  a  strong  family  life 
and  a  marked  differentiation  of  the  activities  of  the  sexes.  The  early 
Egyptian,  the  early  Greek,  the  early  Roman,  like  the  Knight  in 
growing  feudalism,  was  the  head  of  a  family  in  which  the  wife  was 
a  homebody.  It  is  in  Egypt  dying,  in  Greece  upon  the  verge  of  the 
abyss,  in  Rome  rotted  to  its  core,  in  Florence  failing,  in  the  French 
aristocracy  going  to  the  block,  that  we  find  women  and  men  most 
assimilated  in  their  life  activities.  An  incapacity  or  unwillingness 
to  procreate  seems  to  have  been  a  general  accompaniment  of  all  these 
periods,  resulting  in  the  extermination,  through  non-reproduction  of 
the  dominant  classes,  of  those  who  had  made  and  who  supported  the 
civilization  or  system  involved. 

The  Queen  of  Sheba  demonstrates  the  capacity  of  woman,  and 
may  have  been  the  evidence  of  a  national  condition  of  woman  active 
in  the  same  fields  with  man  in  Sheba  ;  at  any  rate,  it  is  the  last  we 
hear  of  Sheba.  The  glory  of  Palmyra  goes  out  with  Zenobia.  Aspa- 
sia  bums  bright  at  the  death  of  Greece.  Cleopatra  marks  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  Ptolemies  and  the  absorption  of  Egypt  into  Rome ;  and 


56  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

later,  as  the  sun  of  Egypt's  civilization  sets  forever  in  clouds  of  super* 
stition,  clouds  bloody-hued  with  the  glare  of  fiery  fanaticism,  we  see 
Hypatia  rise  on  Egypt's  horizon,  pure  and  bright  as  an  evening  star, 
as  a  souvenir  of  a  glory  departed  and  dead.  Boadicea  leads  the  last 
hosts  of  Britain's  dying  life,  and  lyucrezia  Borgia  shines  in  an  expir- 
ing system. 

The  rule  seems  quite  general  that,  as  far  as  the  past  is  concerned, 
the  shining  of  women  in  the  activities  before  their  time  monopolized 
by  men,  is  a  forerunner  of  destruction.  The  exceptions  to  this  gener- 
alization, which  are  quite  numerous,  on  examination  indicate  that 
celebrated  women  in  fields  occupied  by  men,  when  not  noted  at  the 
period  of  downfall,  or  shortly  preceding  it,  are  never  and  in  no  sense 
an  evidence  of  a  general  change  in  women's  activities  to  an  assimila- 
tion with  the  outside  activities  of  men.  In  the  more  general  case  of 
noted  women  at  the  downfall  of  races,  governments,  and  systems,  they 
have  quite  as  invariably  been  the  salient  exposition  of  the  general 
altered  relation  of  the  sexes.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  a  noted  and 
childless  woman  acting  in  the  field  usually  occupied  by  man,  but  she 
represented  no  general  change  on  the  part  of  the  women  of  the  time 
from  the  home  life  to  the  ambitions  of  the  contest  of  outside  life. 
The  legal  condition  of  women  on  the  other  hand  had  completely 
changed  in  Rome  at  the  time  of  Nero  from  what  it  had  been  in  the 
days  of  Scipio.  The  examination  of  past  human  records  shows  strong 
and  splendid  women  indeed  in  the  rising  periods  of  races,  but  their 
general  activities  were  in  the  home  or  family,  and  not  in  the  field. 

Strangely  enough  it  is  in  the  extremes  of  race  life  that  we  see 
this  assimilation  of  the  sex  activities.  It  is  the  barbarous  Nair,  the 
Veddah,  the  Negrito,  the  Andamaner  on  one  side,  and  the  extremes 
of  luxurious  civilization  on  the  other,  where  we  find  the  sex  activities 
most  similar. 

In  some  polities  the  females  are  given  great  power.  Dahomey, 
for  instance,  makes  them  soldiers,  and  we  there  find  the  celebrated 
Amazons.  These  Amazons  are  all  vowed  to  chastity  and  virginity. 
Certainly  there  is  little  in  the  condition  of  Dahomey  to  encourage 
us  to  follow  its  example. 

We  may  indeed  be  convinced  that  women  are  capable  of  being 
good  soldiers,  but  we  see  nothing  in  military  virgins  looking  to  the 
highest  progress  of  the  state. 

Evolution  has  ever  been  from"  the  simple  to  the  complex,  from  the 
general  to  the  special.  The  simplest  life  is  without  sex.  Sex,  then, 
is  a  specialization  accompanying  all  life's  higher  progress.  It  is  least 
specialized  in  its  functions  in  the  lowest  life,  and  most  in  the  highest. 

An  exception  in  low  forms  where  there  is  a  high  specialization 


Sex, 


57 


runs  through  insect  life.  Insect  life  seems  to  be  a  no-thoroughfare 
of  evolution  ;  at  any  rate,  it  is  only  in  this  line  that  we  find  speciali- 
zation with  general  domination  of  the  female.  It  is  amongst  an  allied 
form  of  life  that  we  find  the  female  of  a  certain  species  of  spider,  when 
annoyed  or  satisfied  with  the  attentions  of  its  diminutive  male  com- 
panion, turn  and  devour  him.  Many  similar  relationships  of  the 
sexes  may  be  observed  amongst  insects.  It  is,  however,  in  this  form 
that  we  find  the  Queen  Bee  specialized  for  breeding  alone,  but  amongst 
bees  the  male  is  still  the  inferior  form. 

It  is  in  those  forms  of  life  called  parasitic  that  we  find  at  once 
a  general  retrogression,  a  decay  and  loss  of  higher  organs  to  fit  a 
lower  method  of  life,  and  a  general  domination  of  the  female. 

It  is  in  the  scale  parasites  infesting  trees  that  we  find  and  observe 
the  female  doing  the  most  damage.  The  male  is  smaller  and  short- 
lived. The  tapeworm  is  the  female  of  the  tenia,  and  so  on  through 
the  whole  class. 

The  specializations  of  sex  in  mammals,  and  especially  and  in- 
creasingly in  the  highest  forms  of  mammals,  provide  variations  in 
the  female  suiting  her  to  care  for  the  helpless  period  in  her  young, 
increasing  as  progress  increases,  and  variations  in  the  male  suiting 
him  to  provide  for  her  and  his  children,  helpless  for  periods  in  pro- 
portion to  their  progress.  It  is  in  mankind  of  all  mammals,  and  in 
civilized  men  of  all  mankind,  that  we  first  find  an  evolution  of  the 
female  in  the  higher  types,  making  her  the  most  beautiful  and  at- 
tractive of  the  two  sexes.  It  is  amongst  civilized  men  also  that  we 
find  the  greatest  physical  differences  between  the  sexes ;  not  only 
the  greatest  difference  of  voice-timbre,  of  skin  quality,  of  figure,  but 
also  of  bones,  nerves,  and  muscles. 

We  can  doubtless  by  breeding  and  training  change  this,  and  as- 
similate the  activities  or  capacities  of  both  sexes. 

Where  would  such  a  course  lead  us  ?  It  is  clearly  reactionary. 
It  is  apparently  not  in  the  line  of  the  plain  requirements  of  progress. 

The  conditions  necessary  to  evolution  or  progress,  the  lines 
hitherto  followed,  and  the  general  aspect  of  the  sexual  relations  are 
such  that  we  should  lend  ourselves  slowly  and  with  an  ever  vigilant 
eye  to  the  preservation  of  reproductive  power,  to  the  exaggerated 
and  hasty  radicalism  on  sex  matters  growing  out  of  the  drift  of  a 
society  now  meeting  wealth,  luxury,  and  scepticism— the  destroyers 
of  former  societies. 

The  past  gives  no  promise  of  a  solution  of  society's  salvation 
through  sexual  similarity.  Quite  to  the  contrary  the  line  has  been  : 
family  strength,  sex  diversity ;  progress ;  wealth ;  luxury ;  scepti- 
cism ;  family  weakness,  sex  similarity ;  death. 


58  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

Here  is  a  stew  for  humanity.  When  it  is  put  on  the  fire  it  sends 
smells  of  high  hope  to  the  nostril,  but  in  the  mouth  it  is  rotten  and 
rancid.  The  last  ingredients  of  this  pretty  kettle  of  fish  must  be 
changed  or  we  too  must  meet  the  fate  of  societies  laid  to  rest  before  us. 

In  considering  life  from  the  point  of  view  that  the  grand  aim  and 
object  is  self-improvement  continued  in  children  to  perfection,  we 
demand  reproduction  as  the  one  unchangeable  necessity.  The 
necessity  is  such  by  reason  of  individual  death,  and  is  the  only 
means  to  overcome  this.  Children  vary  in  sex,  so  that  one  may 
have  mainly  boys  who  in  their  turn  may  have  mainly  girls.  In 
each  case  the  life  goes  on.  The  mother  is  perpetuated  in  her  boys 
as  well  as  in  her  girls,  and  so  also  the  father  ;  a  female  trait  in  the 
mother  will  appear  in  the  daughter  of  her  son,  and  so  a  male  trait 
may  pass  to  a  grandson  through  the  daughter  from  her  father. 

Immortality  of  the  body  through  children  is  a  grand  object. 
Through  it  we  can  perpetuate  improvements  in  individual  action. 
If  we  accept  the  religion  of  reproduction  we  certainly  should  rise 
above  the  prejudice  of  sex  and  discuss  sex  relationships  from  the 
grand  outlook  of  immortality  and  eternity.  The  little  squabbles 
of  sex  standing  must  not  dominate  and  blind  us.  In  the  effort  to 
immortality  by  children  one  sex  passes  into  and  through  the  other 
continuously:  the  man  by  reproduction  having  daughters  becomes  a 
woman,  and  so  the  woman  having  sons  becomes  a  man.  We  have 
no  interest  in  setting  one  sex  over  the  other  for  a  transitory  and 
immediately  personal  triumph.  We  have  no  interest  in  establishing 
any  false  system  fatal  to  race  reproduction.  If  such  change  be  made 
in  the  interest  of  men,  the  father  may  at  once  suffer  personally  in  his 
daughters.  If  it  be  in  the  interest  of  women,  the  mother  suffers 
personally  in  her  sons.  In  both,  immortality  of  the  vital  flame  is 
endangered  by  error. 

For  immortality  through  reproduction  we  must  have  reproduc- 
tion, but  this  being  secure  we  are  willing  to  discuss  secondary 
questions.  We  see  that  amongst  low  life  the  female  often  dominates 
and  still  reproduction  takes  place,  reproduction  with  female  similarity 
of  activity  or  actual  superiority.  •  But  we  can  see  in  such  conditions 
no  high  types.  Nor  do  such  conditions  seem  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  highest  development.  Progress  upon  the  same  lines  as 
those  already  followed  by  life-evolution  means  an  increased  prepara- 
tory period,  an  increased  duration  of  helpless  youth,  and  an  increased 
length  of  time  to  pass  through  former  and  lower  stages  of  existence 
in  the  embryo  and  young. 

Sexual  similarity  in  form  or  function  gives  no  expectation  of 
meeting  such  requirements. 


Sex.  59 

The  honeymoon  is  a  period  in  the  lives  of  the  married  immedi- 
ately after  the  ceremony  of  union  in  which  all  the  old  convention- 
alities and  reserves  that  had  properly  kept  the  lovers  apart  before 
marriage  are  cast  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  The  pair  prefer 
solitude,  it  may  be  that  of  the  country  or  of  the  crowd,  but  they 
abandon  and  avoid  friends  and  family  and  forget  prejudice,  education, 
and  everything  in  the  first  transport  of  the  union  of  their  loves.  It 
is  this  return  to  nature  that  makes,  as  a  rule,  the  honeymoon  happy, 
though  bad  education,  bad  surroundings,  or  absolute  ignorance  of 
the  true  relations  of  marriage  may,  as  they  so  often  do,  make  the 
subsequent  married  life,  when  these  influences  establish  their  power, 
a  failure.  It  is  both  interesting  and  instructive  to  watch  with  tender 
sympathy  young  couples  in  the  honeymoon.  At  this  time  when 
nature  has  broken  down  the  barriers  of  convention,  we  see  the  sexes 
bearing  more  nearly  their  true  relations  to  each  other  than  in 
ordinary  life.  It  is  a  joy  to  the  young  husband  to  protect  and  watch 
over  his  wafe,  it  is  a  joy  to  the  young  wife  to  be  protected  and  to 
look  for  support  from  the  husband. 

In  the  honeymoon  when  the  woman  is  superior  to  the  man, 
happiness  results  from  the  vanity  and  blindness  of  the  man  in  not 
knowing  the  truth  and  in  the  self-deception  of  the  woman  whose 
wise  instinct  still  insists  on  looking  up  to  the  man  even  when  there 
is  nothing  to  look  up  to.  In  the  honeymoon  the  observant  looker-on 
may  always  note  the  sweet  desire  of  the  woman  to  find  in  the 
husband  a  power  to  which  she  can  look  for  protection. 

The  loving  bride  always  thinks  her  husband  physically  and 
mentally  superior  and  stronger  than  herself.  She  wishes  him  to  be 
so,  and  the  wish  is  father  to  the  thought.  The  continuance  and 
increase  of  the  honeymoon  happiness  into  the  future  home  depend 
on  the  man's  being  the  strongest  in  these  qualities  of  the  outside 
fight.  It  is  indeed  rare  to  see  a  happy  woman  who  is  superior  in 
such  qualities  to  her  husband.  I  have  never  seen  such  a  case, 
although  I  have  seen  to  my  joy  many  happy  homes.  No  one 
ever  saw  a  happy  man  who  was  the  inferior  in  these  qualities  to 
his  wife.  The  woman,  as  has  been  said,  has  her  superiorities, 
upon  the  existence  of  which  the  happiness  of  marriage  equally 
depends. 

The  sweet  determination  of  the  bride  to  be  dependent,  to  be  lov- 
ing and  devoted,  and  to  find  in  her  husband  the  qualities  peculiar  to 
the  male  is  an  instructive  contrast  to  the  protective  tenderness  of  the 
new  husband,  to  his  exaggerated  sense  of  responsibility,  to  his  watch- 
ful care  against  all  danger,  and  to  his  impetuous  rush  into  every 
breach  through  which  harm  may  come  to  his  wife. 


6o  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

It  is  thus  in  the  honeymoon  that  we  see  an  abandon  that  returns 
the  sexes  nearer  to  their  natural  relations  than  we  ordinarily  observe. 
The  conditions  necessary  for  marital  happiness  are  then  accentuated. 
The  woman  should  have  the  truth  of  virtue,  devotion  to  one  idol 
who  is  to  re-create  her  in  the  child,  industry  to  maintain  the  order  of 
home,  and  the  tenderness  of  love  to  develop  further  when  she  is  a 
mother.  The  man  must  have  the  strength  to  ward  off  danger,  and 
to  support  the  woman  helpless  in  childbirth,  and  nearly  so  in  child- 
care,  and  the  passions  of  love  to  drive  him  to  the  re-creation  of  him- 
self and  of  his  wife  in  the  child.  The  child  is  the  true  union  of  man 
and  woman,  the  bond  indivisible  by  law,  indivisible  while  life  or  a 
descendant  of  that  life  exists.  We  may  summarize  by  saying  that  a 
happy  home  requires  the  husband  to  be  a  man,  and  the  wife  to  be  a 
woman,  each  complete  in  the  characteristics  of  their  respective  sexes. 

Sex  is  a  differentiation  in  living  things  that  by  a  specialization  of 
the  reproductive  function  has  made  improvements  in  life  possible 
that  without  it  would  have  never  occurred.  The  greater  the  spe- 
cialization is,  speaking  generally,  the  higher  is  the  condition  of  life. 

The  main  object  of  woman's  existence  is  child-bearing.  It  is  for 
this  that  her  organs  and  organization  fit  her.  To  her  everything 
else  is  secondary  and  inferior,  so  much  overture,  interlude,  and  finale, 
but  the  plot  and  action  of  her  life  is  child-bearing.  So  also  is  it  with 
man.  All  is  secondary  to  the  child.  Without  child,  a  man  or 
woman  is  nothing.  Their  existence  in  outside  life  has  no  reason 
without  this  crowning  glory  of  the  child. 

The  barren  woman  is  a  zero.  The  mother  is  a  patriot,  replenish- 
ing her  country ;  a  creator,  immortalizing  herself  and  her  husband. 
She  is  grand. 


CHAPTER  II. 
MARRIAGE. 

MARRIAGE  is  a  regulation  of  man,  now  established  in  some 
form  everywhere.  By  marriage  the  family  is  founded  ;  by 
the  family  the  higher  social  organizations  become  possible. 

Pairing  amongst  animals  is  the  outcome  of  the  necessity  of  repro- 
duction. It  suggests  the  line  of  evolution  our  own  marriage  has 
followed.  The  strength  of  the  pairing  instinct  is  in  proportion  to  the 
necessity  for  the  protection  of  the  young.  Where  the  perpetuation 
of  life  is  insured  by  large  numbers  of  young,  as  in  most  fishes,  pair- 
ing is  weak  or  non-existent.  The  fertilization  of  the  egg  in  nearly 
all  fishes  takes  place  outside  of  the  body,  and  there  is  no  sexual 
congress.  In  reptiles  the  egg  generally  is  hatched  by  the  sun,  and 
the  young  are  able  to  care  for  themselves  when  leaving  the  shell.  In 
the  higher  forms  of  life,  whose  young,  passing  through  former  stages 
of  evolution,  are  in  this  period  more  or  less  helpless,  more  care  is 
required.  This  care  at  first  given  entirely  by  the  female,  is,  as  life 
becomes  more  complex,  and  as  its  preparatory  period  becomes  longer, 
shared  in  by  the  male.  In  the  highest  types  the  male  protects,  and 
often  provides  for,  both  mother  and  young.  These  necessities  of 
life  continuation  in  man  have  become  formalized  amongst  all  of 
humanity  by  custom  and  code  into  marriage.  Marriage  then  is  a 
legal  provision  for  reproduction.  It  is  a  codified  expression  of 
the  highest  animal  instincts  for  the  continuation  and  improvement 
of  life. 

In  this  convention  man  strengthens  nature,  as  we  see  her  mani- 
festations in  the  sexual  relations  of  other  animals.  The  possession 
given  by  monogamy  to  the  husband  of  the  wife,  and  to  the  wife  of 
the  husband,  especially  the  former,  prevents  the  necessity  of  contests 
to  maintain  the  purity  of  the  breed,  and  the  certainty  of  the  paternity 
of  the  child,  necessary  to  the  highest  interests  of  humanity. 

The  marriage  laws  of  civilized  countries  bear  the  same  relation 
to  reproduction  that  the  laws  of  property  do  to  securing  to  the  laborer 
the  results  of  his  or  her  efforts.  Society  protects  in  each  case  the 
individual,   and  the  necessity  for  fighting  is  minimized.     Thus  in 

6i 


62  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

marriage  a  large  amount  of  energy  devoted  amongst  animals  and 
uncivilized  man  to  capturing,  or  holding,  or  temporarily  monopoliz- 
ing females,  is  liberated  for  other  uses. 

The  m'ain  thing  in  marriage,  as  in  all  animal  pairing,  is  the  pro- 
creation, protection,  and  support  of  the  young. 

All  the  great  founders  of  institutions  have  been  especially  particu- 
lar about  marriage.  Moses,  lyycurgus,  Solon,  Numa,  Mahomet,  and 
the  leaders  of  Eastern  civilization  have  laid  great  stress  upon  this 
essential  regulation  of  society. 

In  world  time  it  is  a  recent  arrangement.  Those  things  secondarily 
dependent  on  it  are  of  still  more  modern  growth. 

These  noted  formulators  of  law,  it  is  true,  only  codified  existing 
customs  with  probably  merely  moderate  modifications  in  the  line  of 
progress.  Institutions  have  developed  as  man's  command  over 
nature  has  developed.  It  is  after  all  the  creation  and  acquisition  of 
property  that  have  done  most  to  change  primitive  marriage  forms,  to 
change  descent  and  inheritance  from  the  female  to  the  male,  and  to 
supply  the  dominating  reason  for  the  evolution  and  maintenance  of 
monogamian  marriage.  It  is  convenient  to  mark  epochs  in  man's 
history  with  the  names  of  men  most  prominent  in  them,  but  it  is  in- 
accurate to  attribute  to  any  of  these  the  social  system  that  they  may 
have  formulated  or  represented.  Such  systems  must  have  been  due 
to  long  growth,  and  must  have  mainly  depended  on  the  economic 
condition  of  the  people  where  they  prevailed. 

Surnames  are  a  new  idea,  depending  for  their  commencement  and 
existence  on  marriage  and  the  security  of  paternity.  We  see  the 
first  tendency  toward  them  in  allusions  to  persons  as  the  son  or 
daughter  of  certain  individuals.  We  see  them  in  ancient  history,  in 
the  Bible,  etc.  In  our  own  time  many  surnames  still  remain,  which, 
in  the  primitive  dialects  of  our  ancestors,  meant  son  or  grandson  of 
some  individual.  The  prefixes  Mac  and  Fitz  mean  son  of,  and  the 
prefix  O  means  grandson.  Thus  MacGregor  means  son  of  Gregor, 
and  O'Hara  means  grandson  of  Hara.  These  were  continued  as  sur- 
names and  notice  of  descent,  and  indicated  in  their  time  of  origin  a 
shortly  previous  period  in  which  the  paternity  of  children  had  become 
secure. 

We  may  study  in  the  same  way  the  gradual  adoption  of  the  hus- 
band's surname  by  the  woman,  indicating  both  the  recognition  of 
the  fusion  of  the  pair  in  the  children  and  the  recognition  of  the 
paternity  of  the  children  as  secured  by  the  marriage  monopoly  of 
the  woman  by  the  man.  The  words  new  and  recent  are  here  used 
in  the  belief  that  the  human  race  has  existed  as  such  for  periods  of 
tens  of  thousands  of  years. 


Marriage,  63 

Marriage  has  been  and  is  the  greatest  promoter  of  progress  that 
man  has  ever  devised.  The  highest  form  of  marriage,  monogamy, 
has  been  the  keystone  to  rapid  progress  in  the  human  race.  As 
chastity  and  fidelity  has  been  the  base  of  women's  lives,  so  has  been 
the  advance  of  mankind,  slow  or  rapid.  The  reason  is  plain,  for 
with  the  fidelity  of  the  wife  comes  certainty  of  paternity  of  her 
progeny. 

Thus  the  strongest  motive  for  thought  and  work  on  the  part  of 
the  man  is  furnished.  With  the  certainty  to  the  husband  that  he  is 
growing  up  again,  in  a  sense  immortal,  in  his  young  children,  with 
the  knowledge  that  he  himself,  without  a  doubt,  has  planted  the 
seed  of  life  in  the  children  he  calls  his,  comes  the  motive  for  work 
for  more  than  that  part  of  himself  which  must  soon  die  and  disap- 
pear, for  more  than  to-day.  With  the  full  belief  that  his  life  is 
going  on  in  his  own  progeny,  he  will  be  rewarded  for  work  for  that 
part  of  himself,  the  child,  which  will  live,  continuing  the  father's 
life,  really  marching  the  father  to  immortality,  and  for  the  to-mor- 
row which  he,  the  father,  can  only  enjoy  in  the  renewed  life  he  has 
in  his  child. 

In  the  history  of  the  human  race,  the  certainty  of  fatherhood  in 
society  has  always  been  a  concomitant  of  greatness,  individual  and 
national.  lyicense,  corrupt  morals,  and  general  unchastity  leading 
to  uncertainty  of  paternity  reflect  ever  on  those  women  who  re- 
main true,  and  lessen  the  value  placed  by  society  on  virtue  and 
certainty  of  paternity.  Periods  when  life  was  so  conducted  have 
been  slow  in  progress.  When  such  periods  followed  periods  of 
fidelity,  they  have  been  retrogressive  and  the  human  race  has  gone 
backward. 

The  early  history  of  the  great  races  shows  an  evolution  in  their 
governments  from  a  patriarchal  form  founded  on  the  government  of 
a  father  over  his  own  descendants  and  entire  household,  in  which 
the  certainty  of  paternity  was  secure. 

This  is  a  point  of  advantage  without  which  no  race  has  achieved 
even  temporary  success.  We  may  therefore  say  that  the  security 
of  paternity  of  children  is  a  fundamental  necessity  for  the  highest 
civilization. 

The  customs  and  usages  of  many  countries  of  our  day  show  sur- 
vivals of  the  patriarchal  views  from  the  early  times.  Two  things  in 
these  survivals  are  worthy  of  notice  :  one,  the  fiction  that  was  so 
long  held  in  some  places,  and  even  very  late  in  Rome,  that  all  the 
citizens  of  the  country  were  descendants  from  a  common  ancestor  ; 
and  the  other,  the  value  attached  to  female  virtue,  which  often  went 
to  great  lengths.     In  many  cases  the  tokens  or  signs  of  a  wife's  vir- 


64  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

ginity  were  taken  the  day  after  marriage  and  kept  by  the  woman's 
family  or  exhibited,  as  is  the  case  to  this  day  in  some  Slavonic 
tribes.  Moses  speaks  of  this  custom  of  keeping  these  tokens  in 
Deuteronomy  when  laying  down  rules  for  establishing  the  character 
of  a  wife  unjustly  attacked  by  her  husband. 

It  may  be  asserted  with  good  foundation  that  mankind  escaped 
from  barbarous  conditions  through  the  institution  of  the  family. 
The  first  point  gives  strength  to  the  inference  that  civilized  govern- 
ment in  its  political  base  has  arisen  through  and  by  the  family  out 
of  a  previous  social  type  resting  on  the  gentes,  phratry,  and  tribe, 
and  based  on  kin,  but  not  on  the  family  as  we  have  it.  The  second 
point  shows  that  the  chastity  of  women  giving  security  of  paternity 
was  an  essential  feature  of  social  evolution. 

Another  consideration  in  this  connection  is  that  in  all  the  his- 
torical civilizations  that  have  fallen,  the  fall  was  preceded  by  a  period 
of  immorality,  a  diminished  respect  for  chastity  and  children,  and 
a  decay  of  the  marriage  institutions.  Thus  before  the  fall  of  Rome, 
marriage  and  child-bearing  had  both  lost  their  former  high  repute. 
In  Greece  it  was  the  same.  Amongst  modem  nations  I  am  aware  of 
no  case  where  a  fall  or  setback  was  not  preceded  by  a  period  of 
domestic  corruption. 

A  retrogression  in  power  and  condition  must  always  be  expected 
when  there  is  a  retrogression  toward  the  primitive  type  in  sexual 
intercourse.  The  marriage  relation  has  been  attacked  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  but  without  permanent  success.  Perhaps  no  more  insidi- 
ous arraignment  of  it  exists  than  that  of  the  corrupt  and  cowardly 
Bacon.  In  one  of  his  essays,  he  says,  amongst  other  things  :  ' '  Cer- 
tainly the  best  works  and  of  greatest  merit  for  the  public  have  pro- 
ceeded from  the  unmarried  or  childless  men. ' ' 

That  some  unmarried  or  childless  men  have  done  great  works  is 
true.  It  is  also  true  that  eunuchs  and  women  have  performed  great 
works.  Some  such  have  also  been  accomplished  by  those  of  unsound 
mind,  like  Joan  of  Arc.  But  the  progress  of  the  world  and  of 
humanity  has  been  the  work  of  fathers  and  not  of  celibates  nor  of 
the  sterile. 

From  Rameses,  the  greatest  king  of  Egypt,  who  had  169  chil- 
dren, to  our  own  Washington  and  Jefferson  we  see  that  the  power  and 
desire  for  precreation  is  the  usual  accompaniment  of  genius.  Wash- 
ington was  unfortunately  without  legitimate  heirs,  but  he  appears  to 
have  had  a  number  of  illegitimate  children. 

On  the  contrary,  men  of  creative  ability  in  ideas  have,  as  a  rule, 
been  dangerously  overflowing  with  creative  ability  as  animals. 
Geniuses  have  usually  been  ardent  lovers  and  when  they  have  failed 


Marriage.  65 

to  perpetuate  themselves,  the  fault  has  lain  in  their  sexual  excesses 
or  irregularities  more  than  in  their  coldness  or  incapacity.  The  wife, 
too,  must  occasionally  take  the  blame,  for  we  know  from  the  careful 
figures  of  Dr.  Parvin  that  approximately  one  woman  in  eight  is 
sterile. 

Dr.  Parvin' s  figures  apply  to  social  conditions  different  firom  those 
prevailing  in  America.  The  last  Massachusetts  census  shows  the 
general  average  for  the  State  in  sterility  amongst  American  married 
women  to  be  one  in  five.  In  some  districts,  and  those  the  most 
exclusively  American  in  every  influence,  one  married  woman  in  four 
is  childless.  This  extraordinary  sterility  is  accompanied  by  a 
lessening  regard  for  chastity,  an  increase  in  prostitution  and  divorce, 
and  demonstrates  a  reversion  to  the  Syndyasmian  or  temporary  pairing 
form  of  marriage,  from  which  patriarchal  and  monogamous  marriage 
developed.  In  this  country  and  now,  the  wife  evidently  is  an 
unusually  important  cause  of  man's  failure  to  reproduce=  Dr.  R.  T. 
Morris  claims  that  there  is  also  going  on  a  progressive  atrophy  of  the 
reproductive  organs  in  the  American  white  female.  This  he  under- 
takes to  demonstrate  by  examinations  by  medical  men  of  ten  Aryan- 
American  women,  and  comparing  these  with  ten  American  negresses. 
His  figures  show  80  per  cent,  of  greater  or  less  abnormality  in  the 
reproductive  organs  in  the  white  American  women,  and  indicate 
a  tendency  toward  sexual  atrophy.  The  negresses  were  all  found 
normal. 

No  idea  could  be  more  false  or  inconsistent  with  general  history 
than  that  great  achievement  demands  celibacy.  Were  such  a  fact, 
the  world's  deeds  would  have  been  done  by  priests  or  fakirs.  So 
also  the  proudest  pinnacle  of  human  glory  would  have  been  that 
barren  period  of  the  Dark  Ages  dominated  by  anchorites,  monks,  and 
crazy,  childless  nondescripts.  So  also  those  times  of  family  decay 
and  decreasing  birth-rate  seen  in  Greece,  Rome,  etc.,  would  have 
been  as  great  in  achievement  as  they  were  despicable  in  deeds  and 
sterile  in  children. 

As  the  true  idea  of  the  greatness  and  grandeur  of  creation  in 
marriage  is  comprehended,  more  and  more  will  the  foremost  men  and 
women  of  the  world  be  found  looking  to  love  for  fortune,  and  to  the 
child  as  their  noblest  work.  Some  have  opposed  marriage  on  the 
ground  of  its  unremunerative  expense ;  or,  if  not  opposing  matri- 
mony on  this  ground,  have  condemned  child-bearing.  Starting  even 
on  as  low  a  basis  as  this,  its  opponents'  opinions  cannot  stand 
examination.  Do  we  not  breed  other  animals  with  profit  ?  What 
animal  is  capable  of  more  production  than  man  ?  Taking  slave 
times  as  a  criterion,  we  find  that  the  child  is  not  a  bad  investment : 


66  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

a  good-looking  black  girl  was  worth,  not  long  since  in  America, 
about  $900  at  fifteen  years  of  age  ;  a  handsome  young  mulatto^ 
several  thousand  ;  a  young  man  with  a  trade,  $1200  to  $1800  ;  and 
had  a  profession  been  possible,  doubtless  the  price,  as  in  horses^ 
would  have  run  far  into  the  thousands.  Amongst  the  ancients, 
when  slaves  were  usually  made  from  all  classes  of  the  conquered 
populations,  very  extravagant  prices  were  often  paid  for  individual 
slaves.  We  may  well  imagine  that  the  price  of  an  ^sop,  or  of  a 
Greek  female  slave  similar  to  the  beautiful  woman  commemorated 
in  the  celebrated  statue  of  Milo,  would  have  been  high. 

I  have  from  curiosity  asked  great  numbers  of  parents  in  the 
medium  walks  of  life  what  they  would  take  for  a  child,  and  have, 
with  scarcely  an  exception,  found  them  unwilling  to  even  consider 
a  money  price  which  would  deprive  them  of  the  company,  care,  and,, 
if  you  like,  the  trouble  of  their  baby. 

We  can  thus  perceive  that  there  is  a  real  material  value  in  the 
child  as  a  profitable  crop,  if  we  but  knew  how  to  utilize  it,  and  also  a 
value  in  a  spiritual  way  which  a  parent  able  to  support  life  is  unwil- 
ling to  translate  into  money. 

It  will  not  do,  however,  to  gloss  over  the  changed  social  and 
economic  conditions  in  which  we  live  as  compared  with  those  of  our 
fathers.  They  took  pride  in  a  large  family  ;  we  dread  or  avoid  many 
children.  In  their  time  a  farm  was  largely  self-sustaining ;  the 
necessaries,  even  to  the  carpets,  were  generally  made  at  home. 
Education  was  in  actual  life  and  on  the  farm.  Every  child  was  a 
helper,  and  by  so  much  increased  the  power  and  production  and 
independence  of  the  family.  A  large  family  under  a  judicious  head 
meant  success  and  wealth.  To-day  we  have  become  specialists. 
The  family,  as  a  unit,  is  not  self-sustaining  in  th^  old  sense.  The 
standard  of  material  condition  is  higher  and  more  difficult  of  attain- 
ment. Education  absorbs  increasingly  long  periods  of  the  child's 
life.  This  results  in  two  things.  First,  the  child's  education  is 
altogether  a  burden — that  is,  excluding  any  fee  for  tuition,  the  child 
must  be  boarded  and  clothed  according  to  the  social  standard  for 
many  years  while  producing  nothing,  while  formerly  the  education 
of  the  child  was  accomplished  through  its  participation  in  the 
productive  work  of  the  family  ;  schooling  was  at  a  minimiun. 
Secondly,  the  child,  separated  so  much  from  family  influences,  hopes, 
and  interests  as  our  modern  system  demands,  loses  the  family  feeling 
of  the  old  style.  Thus  a  child  in  our  early  history  was,  as  a  rule,  a 
source  of  reliance  and  support  to  the  family,  and  remained  more  or 
less  in  connection  with  it.  This  condition  has  been  and  is  being 
weakened  to-day.     We  must  in  honesty  admit  that  the  general  view 


Marriage.  67 

of  a  large  family  to-day  is  that  it  is  an  excessive  responsibility, 
costly  and  burdensome,  a  source  of  care  and  weakness  and  not  a 
source  of  solace  and  strength. 

While  I  have  personally  found  no  one  willing  to  sell  a  child,  I 
know  of  a  large  number  of  cases  of  adoption,  some  of  which  were  of 
children  with  living  parents.  In  fact  every  now  and  then  one  sees 
an  advertisement  of  a  child  for  adoption.  There  must  be  those, 
then,  who  value  their  children  very  little  even  after  begetting  them. 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  present  reaction  and  reversion  of 
women  to  the  outside  industrial  type  of  the  savage  or  barbarian 
comes  from  the  destruction  of  home  manufacture  and  industry  in  the 
family  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  from  the  increased  standard  of 
life,  weakening  of  the  family  tie,  and  decreasing  appreciation  of 
matrimony  and  procreation. 

What  dangers  we  discover  in  the  weakening  reproductive  power  of 
Americans,  threatening  their  proximate  extermination,  has  far- 
reaching  industrial,  social,  and  religious  causes.  No  law  like  the 
French  one  offering  a  bonus  for  a  seventh  child  can  have  much 
effect.     We  must  seek  the  remedy  deeper. 

Humanity  is  actuated  by  motives  which  must  be  good  if  the  race 
is  to  progress.  The  strongest  motive  for  thought,  invention,  action, 
and  work,  and  especially  for  great  work,  which  can  either  not  be 
enjoyed  by  the  worker  in  his  life  or  only  partially  enjoyed,  is  the 
security  that  such  effort  can  be  enjoyed  by  one's  other  self— that  is 
to  say,  in  one's  children.  For  this  motive  to  operate  in  full  force 
there  must  be  a  certainty  as  to  the  paternity  of  children. 

From  plain,  natural  causes  there  always  is  a  certainty  of  mother- 
hood. Thus  we  see  the  reason  for  the  fact  that  amongst  many 
savage  tribes  of  to-day  and  of  the  past,  the  name,  inheritance,  and 
lineage  were  often  derived  from  the  mother  and  not  from  the  father. 
The  reason  is  plain  that,  the  marriage  institution  being  undeveloped 
or  of  a  combined  polygamous  and  polyandrous  nature — that  is,  a  group 
of  men  being  husbands  to  a  group  of  women,— certainty  of  paternity 
did  not  exist,  and  therefore  inheritance  depended  only  on  the  cer- 
tainty of  maternity.  That  this  was  an  inferior  condition  of  society 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  tribes  and  nations  adopting  rules  that 
secured  the  paternity  of  the  child  to  a  husband  have  surpassed  and 
left  all  other  tribes  behind. 

In  the  gentile  organization,  which  prevailed  everywhere  amongst 
man  as  he  emerged  from  the  savage  to  the  barbarous  stage,  and 
which  has  been  a  stage  in  the  evolution  of  every  civilized  people, 
past  or  present,  the  inheritance  was,  like  the  marriage,  to  the  group 
or  gentes  and  not  to  the  child.     Originally  always  to  the  mother's 


68  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

gentes,  it  only  changed  to  the  father's  gentes  as  conditions  of  pro- 
gress and  acquisition  of  property  by  the  man  made  him  dissatisfied 
in  not  seeing  his  labors  enure  to  the  benefit  of  his  progeny.  Pairing 
doubtless  had  taken  the  place  of  group  marriage  to  a  considerable 
extent  when  this  change  was  accomplished.  The  first  formulated 
step  in  the  evolution  of  marriage  from  the  group  or  Punaluan  to  the 
monogamian  form,  was  the  change  of  inheritance  and  kinship  from 
the  female  to  the  male. 

The  recent  advance  of  humanity  has  been  confined  to  peoples 
having  the  institution  of  marriage  as  we  know  it.  The  progeny 
and  condition  of  a  people  may  be  measured  by  their  attitude  toward 
marriage. 

When  the  certainty  of  who  the  father  is,  is  a  rule  of  social 
organization,  the  resulting  motive  for  work  will  by  sympathy  affect 
even  those  who  have  no  children,  and  vice  versa.  Where  society 
makes  no  case  of  female  fidelity  and  male  parentage  is  consequently 
uncertain,  even  a  reasonable  security  of  paternity  on  the  part  of 
some  will  have  less  force  through  the  sympathetic  influence  of  the 
general  view  and  general  absence  of  the  motive. 

Men  have  their  individual  and  their  aggregate  motives.  The 
effect  of  the  opinion  of  the  masses  upon  the  individual  is  best  illus- 
trated by  studying  panics  and  the  frequent  and  almost  inexplicable 
enthusiasm  or  violence  for  evil  or  for  good  .seen  in  crowds.  Man  is 
undoubtedly  influenced  by  the  social  standard  of  his  time  although 
he  himself  may  have  a  different  standard.  If  he  be  thus  at  variance 
with  his  surroundings,  he  will  be  less  influenced,  but  still  influenced. 

Man  is  and  must  be,  from  the  limitations  set  forth  in  the  chapter 
on  sex,  the  outside  contester  and  property  accumulator,  the  fighter 
in  industry,  as  in  war,  of  the  human  race.  It  is  he  also  who  may  be 
pressed  on  in  effort  by  the  knowledge  always  possessed  by  the 
woman  as  to  her  progeny,  that  he  lives  again  in  his  own  children ; 
that  his  likeness,  his  life,  his  spark  of  immortality  is  his  child,  and 
that  he  can  thus  enjoy  through  this  new  life  in  his  child  the  efforts 
which  would  otherwise  be  of  little  or  no  benefit  to  him. 

The  certainty  that  a  particular  life  is  from  you,  and  the  result  of 
your  own  godlike  powers  of  creation,  is  a  motive  of  incalculable 
power  for  good.  It  is  the  man  also  who  may  be  deprived  of  this 
greatest  of  all  reasons  for  development  of  human  power  through 
loose  social  rules,  more  or  less  promiscuous  intercourse,  and  the 
resulting  uncertainty  of  paternity  of  children,  or  total  sterility. 

From  these  reasons  it  will  be  plain  that  it  is  of  the  very  greatest 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  human  beings,  and  above  all  to  their 
further  development,  that  man  should  have  this  grand  incentive  to 


Marriage,  69 

use  all  his  powers  and  faculties,  and  to  improve  them  in  himself  re- 
newed— that  is  to  say,  in  his  child. 

The  value  of  the  marriage  tie,  and  of  the  observance  inviolate  of 
the  wife's  chastity,  is  thus  shown  to  be  on  a  high  plane.  It  involves 
the  godlike  quality  of  creation  possessed  by  man  and  woman  united, 
the  purity  of  the  breed,  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  joined  vital  flame 
in  the  child,  which  gives  humanity  a  tangible  promise  of  immortality. 
Its  benefits  are  a  peaceful  and  natural  life  to  the  woman  ;  giving  her 
dignity  as  wife,  grandeur  as  mother  and  part-creator  of  the  child,  and 
a  maturity  and  old  age  happy  in  the  love  and  devotion  born  only  of 
the  blood  tie.  To  the  man  it  gives  comfort,  the  happiness  of  home, 
the  indescribable  delight  of  conjugal  love,  to  which  that  of  a  mistress 
is  as  that  of  Hyperion  to  a  Satyr ;  and,  above  all,  it  gives  him  the 
child  in  which  to  live  again,  and  for  which  every  faculty  may  be 
drawn  on,  thus  making  the  father  doubly  great  through  his  improve- 
ment in  his  self-renewal. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  a  life  of  suffering  and  misery  was  considered 
the  shortest  road  to  heaven.  Under  such  a  doctrine  virginity  and 
celibacy  were  deemed  a  sure  means  of  reaching  paradise.  The  sup- 
pression of  our  greatest  natural  instinct,  reproduction,  and  the  dis- 
couragement of  marriage,  in  which  relation  mankind  has  the  highest 
capacity  of  happiness  and  joy,  with  the  consequent  ill-health  of  body 
and  of  mind  which  such  abnormal  life  always  brings  in  a  highly 
organized  society,  was  the  beau  ideal  of  an  uneasy,  unhappy,  and 
miserable  existence  and  was  in  complete  harmony  with  the  general 
view. 

The  avoidance  and  disgrace  of  marriage  in  those  times  had  two 
effects  :  first,  an  arrest  of  progress  and  a  stagnation  which  gave  the 
name  to  the  time  ''  Dark  Ages"  ;  and,  second,  a  license  and  prosti- 
tution which  pervaded  all  classes  from  the  Church  and  royal  families 
to  the  peasant.  Even  nuns,  monks,  and  popes,  the  very  preachers 
of  celibacy,  were  notoriously  licentious.  Thus  nature  could  not  be 
conquered. 

The  first  result  was  the  sinking  out  of  sight  of  the  grand  act  of 
paternity  and  its  perpetuation  of  the  parents  in  the  child  ;  the  second, 
the  impossibility  so  many  wete  under  of  a  legitimate  and  honorable 
exercise  of  nature's  great  command. 

The  effect  upon  each  succeeding  generation  must  have  been 
cumulatively  bad.  For  those  persons  of  a  kind,  religious,  and  stu- 
dious disposition  took  to  the  monasteries  where  celibacy  prevented 
breeding,  while  those  of  enterprising  or  investigating  disposition 
were  so  persecuted  or  destroyed  as  to  discourage  procreation  in 
them.     Galton  calls  attention  to  the  effects  of  this  system  in  elimi- 


70  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

nating  from  the  world  the  best  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  least 
worthy.    Spain  is  a  striking  instance  of  what  such  a  policy  can  do. 

Toward  the  end  of  these  ages  syphilis,  that  awful  scourge  of  man 
visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  to  the  third  and 
fourth  generation,  appeared.  The  rapidity  of  its  spread  all  over 
Europe  showed  the  extent  to  which  general  depravity  and  license  had 
gone. 

A  curious  statistical  fact  is  the  excessive  proportion  of  insanity, 
delirium  tremens,  and  suicides  amongst  the  single  as  compared  to  the 
married.  So  also,  according  to  Becquerel,  at  seventy  there  are  26.9 
married  to  11.7  unmarried  men  living.  There  is  everywhere  more 
crime  among  the  single  than  among  the  married ;  the  proportion 
varies,  but  it  is  always  considerable. 

The  study  of  suicides  is  exceedingly  interesting.  It  is  not  only 
that  single  individuals  suicide  more  frequently  than  the  married 
(about  three  to  one),  but  amongst  the  married  childless  men  suicide 
twice  as  frequently  as  those  with  children,  and  childless  women 
three  times  as  often  as  those  with  progeny.  With  widowers  and 
widows  the  same  conditions  to  a  more  marked  degree  prevail. 

It  is  probable  that  there  is  a  common  cause  out  of  which  sui- 
cides and  prostitution  both  come.  As  society  grows  in  complexity 
and  its  standards  become  more  difficult  of  attainment,  so  must  we 
expect  to  see  with  sad  eyes  the  weak  and  unfit  in  moral  or  physical 
power  fall  by  the  way. 

Again  as  societies  have  gone  off  on  side  tracks  and  been  lost  in 
some  error  or  exaggeration  ;  when  they  have  thus  developed  on  lines 
which  bring  them  to  a  point  where  it  is  impossible  for  the  mass  of 
their  humanity  to  conform  to  the  system  and  prosper,  as  in  Greece 
and  Rome,  we  must  have  collapse  with  an  increasing  misery  of  the 
individual  till  the  system  is  reformed  or  destroyed. 

Considerable  numbers  of  persons  and  families  have  been  unable 
to  keep  up  with  the  progress  of  their  societies.  There  is  reason  to 
think  that  such  stranded  beings  not  only  fail  to  keep  up  with  their 
fellows,  but  tend  to  revert  to  primitive  types  of  social  organization 
and  even  to  conditions  of  no  organization. 

Suicides  bear  a  direct  relation  to  the  manner  of  sexual  intercourse 
in  a  community.  When  such  intercourse  is  in  marriage  mainly, 
then  are  suicides  fewest ;  where  the  most  prostitution  and  sexual 
abuse  exist,  there  are  suicides  the  most  numerous.  What  is  a  nun's 
life  on  one  side  of  marriage  and  a  prostitute's  life  on  the  other,  to 
that  of  a  wife  and  mother  ?  What  is  the  life  of  a  celibate  or  hermit 
on  one  side  of  marriage  and  a  debauchee's  life  on  the  other,  to 
that  of  the  husband  and  father  ?     Old  age  in  the  father  and  mother, 


Marriage,  71 

in  a  well-regulated  family,  is  a  glorious  time  of  repose.    The  parents* 
youth  is  multiplied  and  everlasting.    In  their  children  they  live  again. 

To  the  childless  human  being,  old  age  is  a  desolation  worse  to 
many  than  is  death.  It  has  no  dignity  and  no  alleviation.  A  death's- 
head  is  on  every  pleasure  of  the  vanished  youth  of  such  unhappy 
ones.  Age  to  them  is  a  curse.  Death  when  it  comes  is  complete. 
They  leave  no  life. 

A  virtuous  wife,  who  is  a  mother,  will  command  not  the  love  of 
her  husband  in  her  youth  and  beauty  alone,  but  his  devotion  in  her 
old  age.  A  childless  wife  is  but  a  mistress  ;  like  a  mistress  she  holds 
her  husband  only  by  the  tie  of  passion,  or  that  of  agreeable  compan- 
ionship, which  often  exists  between  persons  of  the  same  sex  whose 
characters  are  sympathetic.  As  such  a  wife  grows  old  and  loses  her 
charms,  her  hold  on  her  husband  rests  only  on  the  customs  of  so- 
ciety, and,  if  she  be  fortunate,  on  the  habit  of  companionship.  There 
can  never  be  the  grand,  natural,  innate  feeling  for  her  in  her  husband 
which  the  united  perpetuation  of  their  being  in  progeny  can  give. 

Children  form  a  chain  that  binds  the  married  together  as  nothing 
else  can.  For  this  chain  to  have  its  full  strength  it  is  necessary  that 
not  only  should  the  paternity  be  certain,  but  that  the  accumulative 
opinion  of  society  should  strengthen  the  belief.  Therefore  the 
children  of  a  mistress,  though  there  be  certainty  of  paternity,  have 
not  the  same  binding  power  as  those  of  a  wife.  Wedded  life  alone 
can  give  a  woman  an  assured  old  age.  Material  welfare  is  not  here 
referred  to,  but  the  sympathy  that  smooths  the  roughest  paths  of 
fortune  is  what  is  meant. 

Society  must  consider  virtue  in  marriage  absolutely  essential,  or 
the  general  opinion  sanctioning  looseness  will  weaken  even  correct 
feelings  in  the  individual.  Such  periods  of  decay  have  continuously 
recurred  since  monogamous  marriage  was  instituted,  and  human 
progress  has  been  at  such  times  arrested  until  a  new  virtue  came  in. 

To  avoid  the  effect  of  these  periods  is  one  of  the  main  objects  of 
these  chapters.  It  can  only  be  done  by  fixing  the  value  of  chastity 
in  woman  firmly  in  the  minds  and  lives  of  a  considerable  family 
circle  of  sufficient  strength  to  counteract  amongst  its  members  the 
general  depravity  to  which  society  will  from  time  to  time  become 
a  prey 

The  importance  of  the  certainty  of  paternity  and  of  the  family 
has  caused  the  ancient  legislators  and  others  more  modern,  even 
down  to  our  own  New  England  ancestors,  to  take  strong  measures 
to  preserve  chastity.  These  rules  varied  from  the  stoning  to  death 
of  the  adulterous  woman  to  the  placing  on  the  breasts  of  such,  the 
Scarlet  Letter. 


72  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  punishment  for  rape  was  equally 
strong,  as  we  note  from  this  summary  of  Dr.  McKee's : 

THE  PUNISHMENT  FOR   RAPE. 

The  unlawful  taking  of  the  hymen  has  in  all  times  been  visited  by  the  most 
severe  punishment.  The  penalty  was  death  among  the  Jews,  if  the  maid  was 
engaged.  If  a  man  lay  with  a  betrothed  damsel  in  the  city,  they  were  both, 
stoned ;  if  in  the  country,  the  man  only.  It  was  reasoned  that  in  the 
city  the  maid  could  cry  out  and  have  help  ;  in  the  country  she  could  not. 
Among  the  Athenians,  Romans,  ancient  French,  and  the  English,  and  in  many 
of  the  United  States,  in  their  early  days,  the  offence  was  punishable  with 
death.  In  New  York,  by  the  law  of  1787,  rape  of  a  child  under  ten  years  of 
age  was  punishable  with  death.  In  1810  it  was  changed  to  imprisonment  for 
life.  In  Illinois  and  Massachusetts  the  punishment  was  death.  In  Texas  it  is 
still  a  capital  crime  ;  and  only  as  long  ago  as  April,  1888,  a  man  was  hanged, 
not  lynched,  at  Gainesville,  Tex.,  for  rape.  In  the  Isle  of  Man,  in  *'  ye  olden 
time,"  there  existed  a  very  wise  custom.  The  criminal  was  brought  into  a  pub- 
lic place,  and  his  victim  was  given  a  sword,  a  whip,  and  a  ring,  and  his  pun- 
ishment left  entirely  in  her  hands.  She  could  kill,  whip,  or  marry  him. 
Among  the  old  Welsh,  he  who  robbed  a  maiden  of  her  hymen,  there  being  two 
witnesses  to  the  same,  was  required  to  present  his  sovereign  a  piece  of  silver  as 
high  as  the  sovereign's  mouth  and  as  large  as  his  little  finger.— St.  I^ouis 
Courier  of  Medicine. 

But  these  rules  were  too  severe,  more  in  fact  than  human  nature 
could  bear,  and  besides  no  one  had  arrived  at  the  true  idea  of  matri- 
mony and  the  necessity  of  virtue.  Therefore  reaction  has  always 
followed  such  strict  rules,  the  true  basis  of  conduct  which  they  were 
made  to  support  not  being  completely  understood. 

The  public  dancing  girls  of  polygamous  countries,  the  Hetairae 
or  brilliant  prostitutes  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  farce  into  which  mar- 
riage was  at  last  turned  in  Rome,  where  a  marriage  is  recorded,  the 
bride  in  which  had  already  had  twenty- three  husbands  and  the  groom 
twenty-one  wives,  the  former  wives  and  husbands  having  been  di- 
vorced, indicate  what  forms  reactions  against  unappreciated  strin- 
gencies take.  In  modern  times  we  see  the  same  protest  against 
unexplained  or  unreasonable  strictness.  No  more  notable  one  has 
existed  probably  than  the  gallantries  and  profligacy  of  the  Restora- 
tion in  England  after  the  Puritan  rule.  To-day  there  is  nowhere  a 
stronger  reaction  against  marriage  and  children  than  in  New  Eng- 
land, where  the  rules  for  chastity  were  of  the  very  strongest.  Such 
reversions  are  the  protests  of  decaying  societies  against  the  rules  on 
sexual  intercourse  which  had  formed  important  elements  in  their 
growth. 

While  various  safeguards  are  necessary  in  the  rules  governing 
the  conduct  of  women,  to  secure  certainty  of  paternity  two  things 


Marriage.  73 

must  not  be  forgotten  :  first,  that  the  grandeur  of  virtue  and  child- 
birth must  be  understood  ;  and  second,  that  the  progress  of  the  race 
depends  on  the  development  of  the  woman  as  well  as  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  man.  Therefore  these  rules  should  not  take  unnecessary 
forms,  totally  destroying  the  self-reliance  and  character  of  the  woman. 
Such  a  course  w411  leave  considerable  portions  of  the  woman's  higher 
qualities  unused,  and  consequently  not  only  unprogressive  but 
retrogressive.  These  qualities  will  become  atrophied  and  the  chil- 
dren bred  and  reared  by  such  mothers  will  inevitably  show  the 
mother's  weakness.  From  this  cause  the  harem  system  of  the  Turk, 
although  giving  certainty  of  paternity,  is  non-progressive  beyond  a 
certain  point,  through  the  counter  effect  of  undue  suppression  of  all 
development  in  the  women. 

It  is  probable,  too,  that  the  peculiar  sympathy  and  completion  of 
humanity  in  well  executed  monogamy  is  not  found  in  polygamy.  In 
polygamy  the  children  of  each  mother  under  her  special  influence 
are  liable  to  grow  up  with  a  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  children  of 
the  father  by  other  mothers. 

This  is  a  fact  in  polygamous  households  and  the  rivalries  of  the 
mothers  are  usually  intensified  in  the  children.  So  the  stories  of 
bloodshed  and  fratricide  in  the  ruling  families  of  polygamous  peo- 
ples are  common.  One  son  rules  after  exterminating  his  brothers. 
Fratricide  under  monogamy  is  rare,  thus  showing  that  the  family  tie 
under  this  system  is  stronger,  and  that  the  affections  which  add  so 
much  to  our  life  joys  have  a  play  nowhere  else  found. 

The  commonly  received  ideas  as  to  the  suppression  of  women  in 
polygamous  countries  are,  however,  very  much  exaggerated.  In 
the  higher  forms  of  polygamy,  the  women  inherit  property,  have  the 
right  of  divorce  upon  liberal  grounds,  rule  their  houses,  and  play  an 
often  important  part  in  government.  The  memoirs  of  the  Arabian 
princess,  Salme,  afterwards  Emily  Reiite,  gives  a  good  idea  of  the 
Oriental  life  of  women.  Polygamy  shows  its  own  weakness  hy  ever 
tending  to  monogamy.  Almost  always  in  polygamous  households 
there  is  a  favorite  who  monopolizes  the  husband,  and  frequently  ob- 
tains the  lion's  share  of  the  husband's  property  for  his  children  by 
her  to  the  exclusion  of  his  children  by  other  wives. 

The  great  majority  of  men  in  polygamous  communities  are,  how- 
ever, monogamous.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  women,  the  cost  of 
maintaining,  and,  as  we  learn  from  well-to-do  persons  with  one  wife 
where  they  are  allowed  more,  the  desire  to  avoid  the  troubles  and 
contests  of  the  harem,  all  tend  to  this  result.  A  positive  agree- 
ment, in  such  places  as  Utah  and  Arabia,  was  firequently  exacted 
firom  the  man  before  marriage,  by  the  bride,  that  he  would  have  no 


74  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

other  wives.  Another  curious  thing  in  this  connection  is  the  fact 
that  the  rate  of  childbirth  is  less  in  the  most  fertile  polygamous  coun- 
tries than  in  the  most  fertile  monogamous  ones.  So  also  in  the  early- 
luxury  and  sexual  license  of  the  Roman  Empire,  when  the  emperors 
desired  to  have  sons  and  heritors  for  their  greatness  and  had  sexual 
intercourse  with  large  numbers  of  women  who  might  aid  them  and 
desired  to  aid  them  in  their  wishes,  few  of  them  succeeded.  Some 
had  children  before  their  achievement  of  power  and  license,  but  af- 
terwards had  none,  or  such  weaklings  as  to  be  incapable  of  sustaining 
their  position.  This  sterilizing  of  man  by  excessive  sexual  indulgence 
is  a  strong  argument  for  the  chastity  and  fidelity  of  the  man  under 
the  grand  motive  of  worldly  immortality  only  attainable  in  the  child. 

Promiscuous  intercourse  on  the  part  of  men  or  women  tends  to 
sterility,  as  Bertillon  says  : 

''II  ne  pousse  pas  d'herbe  dans  les  chemins  o^  tout  le  monde 
passe. ' ' 

Sir  Henry  Maine  calls  attention  to  the  unfavorable  pathological 
condition  leading  to  sterility  produced  by  promiscuous  intercourse. 
Dr.  Carpenter  refers  to  the  same  thing  as  observed  by  American 
planters  and  their  remedying  it  by  forming  the  negroes  into  families. 

Where  each  man  in  a  community  has  a  wife,  it  is  easy  to  under- 
stand that  such  a  balance  of  the  sexes  would  be  likely  to  produce 
more  offspring,  than  a  monopolizing  of  an  undue  share  of  women  by 
some  men  to  the  deprivation  of  others,  but  it  is  not  so  clear  that  a 
surplus  of  women  obtained  by  capture,  purchase,  or  even  the  result 
of  the  excessive  death-rate  of  males  by  battle  exposure,  bred  to  by 
the  males  under  the  polygamous  system,  would  not  produce  more 
progeny  than  the  same  number  of  men  with  one  wife  each.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  one- wife  system,  under 
favorable  circumstances,  is  the  most  productive.  There  are  no  sta- 
tistics on  this  point  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  but  we  obtain 
some  idea  of  the  size  of  polygamous  families  by  ancient  records,  such 
as  the  Bible,  the  Egyptian  genealogies,  etc. 

Occasionally  we  come  across  a  record  of  over  one  hundred  chil- 
dren, as  in  King  Rameses,  w^ho  is  said  to  have  had  169  children  ;  as 
in  Augustus  the  Strong,  of  Saxony  and  Poland,  who  is  reported  to 
have  had  a  large  number  of  illegitimate  children  ;  as  in  Gordian,  a 
Roman  patrician  of  the  decaying  empire,  who  had,  by  his  22  concu- 
bines, from  60  to  80 ;  as  in  Sejid  Said,  Imam  of  Mesket  and  Sultan  of 
Zanzibar,  who  is  said  to  have  had  about  one  hundred  children  by  his 
2  wives  and  75  concubines  and  left  36  living  children  at  his  death  ; 
as  in  the  Bishop  of  the  14th  ward  in  Salt  Lake,  who  had  50  chil- 
dren, of  whom  20  died  in  youth  ;  and  as  in  Brigham  Young  and 


Marriage.  75 

other  Mormons.  A  group  of  five  of  the  most  prolific  Mormon  men, 
for  instance,  had  150  children  by  70  wives.  The  mortality  in  these 
children  was  about  40  per  cent. — a  terrible  rate.  But  these  instances 
are  rare  and  they  are  not  quite  free  from  doubt.  The  records  we 
have,  it  must  be  remembered,  usually  only  count  the  sons.  Jacob 
had  twelve  sons  by  his  two  wives  and  their  two  handmaids.  He 
may,  however,  have  had  some  of  these  children  by  the  large  number  of 
concubines  he  took  when  he  had  become  established  ;  we  hear  noth- 
ing of  his  daughters. 

David  and  Solomon  had  a  great  number  of  concubines,  but  their 
children  were  comparatively  few.  The  other  biblical  accounts  of 
polygamy  show  families  frequently  equalled  in  size  by  monogamous 
marriages,  when  free  play  is  allowed  to  the  productive  power  of  the 
wife. 

In  the  accounts  of  the  ruling  families  of  polygamous  nations,  such 
as  the  Turks,  Arabs,  and  many  Eastern  peoples,  we  usually  find  the 
descendants  not  especially  numerous.  When  the  son  of  a  dead  prince 
massacres  his  brothers,  to  quiet  the  title  to  the  crown,  he  usually  has 
from  one  to  five  or  six  only  to  kill  off.  The  sons  of  Sejid  Said  had 
few  or  no  children.  His  successor,  Madjid,  at  Zanzibar,  had  but  one 
daughter,  although  a  number  of  women  were  in  his  harem. 

Mahomet,  with  a  number  of  women  in  his  harem  (nine  wives), 
seems  to  have  had  but  one  daughter,  ' '  Fatima. ' ' 

The  Mormon  records  frequently  show  a  similar  condition.  Joseph 
Smith,  for  instance,  left  but  three  children,  although  he  had  twelve 
recognized  wives.  His  living  children  were  all  born  before  he  com- 
menced his  excesses. 

Dr.  Samuel  W.  Gross  in  his  great  work  states  it  to  be  his 
opinion  that  one  sixth  of  the  cases  of  sterility  are  due  to  defects  in 
the  husband.  We  here  have  an  indication  of  the  importance  of 
this  question. 

My  experience  in  Eastern  nations  is  that  the  children  in  polyga- 
mous households  are  not  on  the  average  as  numerous  as  in  our 
own  Western  pioneer  monogamous  families,  and  that  their  marriages 
are  oftener  sterile.  The  most  plausible  explanation  of  this,  if  it  be 
true  that  polygamy  is  not  so  productive  as  monogamy,  is  that  the 
husband  becomes  intemperate  in  his  sexual  indulgence,  and  that 
consequently  the  spermatozoon  has  no  time  to  become  perfectly 
formed.  Thus  the  frequent  intercourse  with  unimpregnated  women 
is  unproductive. 

Herbert  Spencer  incidentally  takes  an  opposite  view,  which 
causes  me  to  be  more  doubtful  on  this  point  than  I  otherwise  would 
be.     In  polygamy  there  is  jealousy  in  the  wives,  hatreds  among  the 


76  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

children,  and  absence  of  opportunity  for  the  women  to  develop  their 
best  qualities.  All  these  things  work  against  the  complete  influence 
for  good  that  man  and  woman  derive  from  a  perception  of  the 
grandeur  of  their  creative  power,  as  shown  in  themselves  renewed, 
immortal  in  the  child. 

Where  polygamy  is  as  fertile  as  it  may  be,  it  must  become  difiicult, 
if  not  impossible,  to  properly  rear  the  children.  The  extraordinary 
child  mortality  in  the  family  of  the  wealthy  Sejid  Said  illustrates 
this  point. 

Monogamy,  a  single  wife  and  a  single  husband,  ought  to  produce 
from  ten  to  fifteen  children,  which  is  a  good  family,  not  too  difiicult 
to  handle.  In  fact,  such  a  family  generally  results  better  as  to  the 
success  of  the  children  than  smaller  or  larger  families,  because  un- 
natural coddling  is  seldom  practised  in  a  large  monogamous  family, 
and  still  the  support  of  the  children  in  infancy  is  not  so  costly  as  to 
invite  neglect.  Fifteen  or  twenty  children  is  about  all  a  man  can 
really  take  good  care  of — that  is,  give  a  fair  opportunity  to  develop 
the  best  there  is  in  them. 

From  these  reasons,  polygamy,  when  fertility  exists,  is  defective 
as  well  as  too  expensive  for  a  crowded  population,  and,  on  account 
of  the  unequal  distribution  of  the  women,  altogether  unsuited  for  a 
sparse  one. 

The  subject  of  matrimony  is  of  such  vital  consideration  in  the 
welfare  of  human  beings,  the  stages  of  its  evolution  are  so  interesting 
and  instructive,  the  esteem  in  which  it  is  held  varies  so  much  from 
time  to  time  and  in  difierent  places,  the  virtue,  chastity,  and  child- 
bearing  duty  of  the  wife  are  so  frequently  uninforced,  to  the  ruin  of 
society  and  the  arrest  of  progress,  that  it  will  be  well  to  go  a  little 
further  into  the  subject. 

If  we  accept  the  theory  of  development,  there  is  no  escape  from 
the  conclusion  that,  at  one  time,  man  or  his  progenitors  lived  sex- 
ually in  the  same  promiscuous  or  unregulated  way  that  the  gregari- 
ous animals  now  do.  It  must  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that  even 
the  animals  and  birds  have  a  sort  of  marriage,  and  to  some  extent 
protect  the  paternity  of  their  young.  The  bull  chases  away  from  his 
cows  other  bulls  ;  the  wild  stallion,  other  stallions  from  his  mares. 
Many  animals  and  birds  have  a  period  of  courting,  and  when  they 
mate  go  off  by  themselves  on  a  sort  of  wedding  tour,  by  which  the 
paternity  of  the  ofispring  is  secured,  at  least  for  the  time  being. 
Even  aside  firom  the  theory  of  evolution,  the  few  facts  we  have  of 
man's  history  show  that  he  has  progressed  slowly  from  a  primitive 
condition  in  which  he  used  rude  implements  of  flint  and  stone,  to  our 
present  civilization. 


Marriage.  jy 

While  it  is  true  that  we  know  little  or  nothing  as  to  the  social 
regulations  of  prehistoric  man,  still  we  have  traditions,  old  customs, 
mythologies,  superstitions,  systems  of  consanguinity  and  afiSnity, 
and  fragments  her^  and  there,  which,  taken  with  the  actual  lives  of 
primitive  races  still  living  in  a  savage  and  barbarous  way,  throw 
some  light  on  what  the  social  laws  of  our  own  prehistoric  progenitors 
are  likely  to  have  been. 

It  is  but  fair  to  suppose  that  the  lives  of  a  race  using  stone  imple- 
ments, and  generally  in  a  comparatively  undeveloped  condition  now, 
are  like  those  of  other  savage  peoples,  whether  past  or  present, 
whose  stone  implements  show  them  to  be  or  to  have  been  in  a  similar 
condition.  When  we  can  trace  a  custom,  such  as  that  of  throwing 
objects,  especially  shoes,  at  a  departing  bridal  couple,  common  in 
Anglo-Saxon  countries,  back  step  by  step  to  greater  and  greater 
simulated  opposition,  to  the  carrying  oflf  of  the  bride,  until  we  find 
amongst  many  peoples  regularly  arranged  sham  fights  at  every  mar- 
riage, it  is  but  reasonable  to  infer  that  these  customs  are  what  remain 
to  us  of  a  period  when  marriage  took  place  by  the  actual  capture  of 
women,  still  practised  amongst  some  savages  as  a  part  of  their  re- 
source for  marriageable  women. 

Mcl/ellan,  in  his  studies  in  ancient  history,  traces  a  number  of 
customs  back  to  actual  living  practices  now  in  vogue  amongst  savage 
peoples.  It  is,  however,  possible  that  some  of  these  customs,  instead 
of  coming  from  wife  capture,  are  survivals  of  gens  regulations 
against  marrying  in  the  gens. 

We  must  not  infer  that  because  marriage  was  by  capture  in  some 
tribes,  it  was  so  in  all  tribes,  or  even  entirely  so  in  any.  This  is  far 
from  the  facts.  We  must  use  the  same  caution  in  considering  all 
marriage  customs. 

The  marriage  relation,  we  know,  has  practically  no  more  exist- 
ence to-day  amongst  a  few  of  the  most  primitive  tribes,  than  it  has 
among  animals.  These  people  are  unprogressive  and  live  a  miserable 
life.  In  the  promiscuous  or  temporarily  limited  sexual  intercourse 
of  the  Andaman  Islanders  no  family  life  is  possible.  As  both 
religion  and  government  have  grown  out  of  the  family,  we  can  per- 
ceive how  impossible  improvement  is  under  these  conditions.  In 
such  societies,  chastity  in  the  women  can  have  no  reputation. 

Amongst  the  Andamaners,  for  a  woman  to  refuse  a  man  a  sexual 
favor  is  said  be  be  a  serious  insult. 

All  primitive  social  conditions  put  but  small  value  upon  female 
chastity.  With  some  tribes,  as  the  Chibchas,  a  woman,  who  turned 
out  to  be  a  maid  when  married,  was  treated  with  contempt  by  her 
husband,  because  she  had  not  been  able  to  excite  the  passions  of 


78  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

other  men.  Other  tribes  allow  their  girls  to  earn  a  position  for 
future  marriage  by  prostitution,  a  primitive  condition  still  prevailing 
among  us,  as  we  see  by  the  marriages  of  prostitutes,  especially  in 
France  and  Germany,  after  they  have  acquired  some  property.  The 
Assanyeh  Arab's  marriages  seem  to  have  limited  the  woman  in  her 
sexual  intercourse  only  during  a  few  days  in  the  week  or  month  ;  at 
other  times  the  husband,  we  learn,  felt  rather  complimented  than 
otherwise  by  his  wife's  sexual  intrigues. 

In  most  primitive  tribes,  a  wife  or  daughter  is  readily  loaned  to  a 
stranger,  and  in  some  it  is  considered  bad  manners  not  to  make  the 
offer.  A  survival  of  this  feeling  is  seen  in  the  story  of  Cato,  who 
loaned  his  wife  to  his  friend  Hortensius,  and  occasionally  in  records 
of  our  courts  of  justice  to  this  day.  The  formal  and  customary 
compliments  to  women  in  Japan  show  a  survival  from  a  time  when 
sexual  promiscuity  must  have  been  greater  than  now.  Other,  to  us 
abnormal,  conditions  in  the  sexual  relation  existed  very  generally  in 
ancient  times,  and  do  still  amongst  savages. 

The  royal  families  of  Egypt,  Peru,  and  other  places  are  frequently 
recorded  as  marrying  brothers  to  sisters.  Amongst  the  rulers  of  the 
ancient  Peruvians  this  seems  to  have  been  obligatory.  With  lower 
tribes  we  find  the  males  cohabiting  with  their  mothers,  daughters, 
and  sisters,  as  among  the  Chippeweyanas. 

The  royal  marriage  rules  of  Egypt  and  Peru  were  probably  sur- 
vivals in  the  royal  family  of  the  consanguineous  marriage  after  the 
general  community  had  arrived  at  the  Punaluan  type. 

Such  promiscuous  intercourse,  especially  in  close  kin,  is  unfavor- 
able to  reproduction.  There  is  a  natural  feeling  which  we  may  pre- 
sume to  be  a  useful  evolutionary  inheritance,  that  disinclines  us 
instinctively  to  sexual  intercourse  with  those  we  have  been  brought 
up  with  as  children  in  the  same  home.  Out  of  this  has  probably 
grown  some  of  the  exogamous  customs  of  marriage,  and  the  general 
regulations  of  mankind  against  such  marriages. 

In  war,  primitive  men  seem  to  have  considered  the  female  as 
part  of  the  plunder.  After  the  defeat  or  slaughter  of  the  males,  the 
females  were  taken  as  wives,  concubines,  or  slaves  ;  the  reservation 
of  the  males  captured  in  war  for  slaves  came  much  later.  Primitive 
men  probably,  at  times,  went  to  war  to  capture  their  wives. 

Man's  improvement  by  regulation  on  the  primitive  promiscuity, 
which  prevented  the  foundation  of  the  family,  developed  on  the 
lines  and  in  the  order  set  forth  by  Morgan  in  his  Ancient  Society. 

Dr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan  has  made  the  first  complete  and  rational 
explanation  with  which  I  am  acquainted  of  the  social  order,  customs, 
and  systems  of  consanguinity  and  afl&nity  that  are  known  to  have 


Marriage.  79 

prevailed  or  do  prevail  amongst  primitive  mankind.  His  work  gives 
us  a  satisfying  unity  of  comprehension  of  what  were  isolated  and 
incomprehensible  facts  recorded  in  savage  and  barbarous  societies. 

He  demonstrates  by  names  for  kin  that  the  earliest  record  of  man 
is  the  consanguineous  system  of  kinship  which  he  calls  Malayan. 

This  system,  with  its  descriptive  nomenclature,  could  only  have 
originated  where  marriage,  or  more  properly  perhaps  sexual  inter- 
course, was  limited  to  brothers  and  sisters  direct  and  collateral  in  a 
group. 

For  instance,  all  the  children  in  such  groups  are  brothers  and 
sisters,  all  the  husbands  and  all  the  wives  are  equally  fathers  and 
mothers  to  all  the  children,  and  so  on  throughout  the  system.  The 
Malayan  system  of  consanguinity  indicates  clearly  that  sexual  inter- 
course was  theoretically  and,  as  a  rule,  practically  free  in  the  group 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  including  what  we  now  call  cousins,  but  which 
they  did  not  and  could  not  recognize  as  such. 

Dr.  Morgan's  five  types  of  marriage,  as  formulated  by  him  in 
Ancient  Society^  are  as  follows  : 

THE  ANCIENT  FAMILY. 

I.  The  Consanguine  Family.  It  was  founded  upon  the  inter- 
marriage of  brothers  and  sisters,  own  and  collateral,  in  a  group. 

II.  The  Pwialuan  Family.  It  was  founded  upon  the  intermar- 
riage of  several  sisters,  own  and  collateral,  with  each  other's 
husbands,  in  a  group  ;  the  joint  husbands  not  being  necessarily 
kinsmen  of  each  other.  Also,  on  the  intermarriage  of  several 
brothers,  own  and  collateral,  with  each  other's  wives,  in  a  group ;  these 
wives  not  being  necessarily  of  kin  to  each  other,  although  often  the 
case  in  both  instances.  In  each  case  the  group  of  men  were  con- 
jointly married  to  the  group  of  women. 

III.  The  Syndyasmian  or  Pairing  Family.  It  was  founded  upon 
marriage  between  single  pairs,  but  without  an  exclusive  cohabitation. 
The  marriage  continued  during  the  pleasure  of  the  parties. 

IV.  The  Patriarchal  Family.  It  was  founded  upon  the  marriage 
of  one  man  with  several  wives  ;  followed,  in  general,  by  the  seclusion 
of  the  wives.- 

V.  The  Monogamian  Family.  It  was  founded  upon  marriage 
between  single  pairs,  with  an  exclusive  cohabitation. 

There  were  developed,  however,  but  three  systems  of  con- 
sanguinity : 

I.  The  Malayan,  which  continued  into  the  Punaluan  marriage, 
being  still  fairly  descriptive  of  the  conditions  it  created. 


8o 


The   Conquest  of  Death, 


2.  The  Turanian,  which  grew  out  of  the  ordering  of  society  on 
the  gentes,  which  excluded  own  brothers  and  sisters  from  marriage. 
Under  this  system  mankind  were  united  in  tribes  or  confederacies  of 
tribes,  generally  limited  to  a  common  dialect  and  derived  from  a 
recognized  common  ancestry.  Each  tribe  was  divided  into  gentes, 
and  these  were  often  again  united,  in  two  gentes  or  more,  into 
phratries.  No  one  could  marry  into  his  or  her  own  gentes,  not  at 
least  until  property  induced  the  desire  in  the  gentes  to  preserve  the 
wealth  of  heiresses  to  the  gentes,  at  which  time  the  gentile  organiza- 
tion was  drawing  to  its  term.  The  closest  consanguine  marriages 
were  thereby  barred,  because  brothers  and  sisters  belonged  to  the 
same  gentes. 

The  practically  universal  prevalence,  in  all  races  that  are  or  have 
progressed  beyond  a  certain  very  low  stage,  of  this  gentile  organiza- 
tion demonstrated  in  Ancient  Society  is  a  remarkable  achievement 
in  human  history. 

I  should  advise  every  one  interested  in  marriage  and  its  evolution 
to  read  this  valuable  work. 

3.  The  third  system  of  consanguinity  is  the  Aryan,  which  is  that 
which  we  now  have  in  common  with  the  Semitic  race.  The  Aryan 
system  has  its  most  complete  and  convenient  exposition  in  the  Roman 
terminations.  A  table  of  the  Roman  system  is  annexed.  Its  value  is 
apparent.  By  it  one  can  take  any  ascending  or  descending  gene- 
alogy to  the  sixth  generation  on  simple  unit  terms  and  to  the 
twelfth  generation  by  a  duplication  of  the  terms.  The  poverty  of 
our  own  language  stands  in  sorry  contrast  to  this  old  Roman  simple 
fulness  of  definition.     The  table  is  taken  from  Morgan. 


1.  tntavus.. 

2.  atavus. . . 

3.  abavus. . , 

4.  abavia. . . 

5.  proavus. . 

6.  proavia. . 

7.  avus 

8.  avia 

9.  pater 

10.  mater. . . 

11.  filius 

12.  filia 

13.  nepos 

14.  neptis. .  . 

15.  pronepos 

16.  proneptis 

17.  abnepos . 


great-grandfather's  great-grandfather. 

"  .  "  grandfather, 

great-great-grandfather. 

"        "      grandmother, 
great-grandfather. 

"     grandmother, 
grandfather, 
grandmother, 
father, 
mother, 
son. 

daughter, 
grandson, 
granddaughter, 
great-grandson . 

**      granddaughter. 

**     great-grandson. 


Marriage, 


8i 


i8. 

19- 
20. 
21. 
22. 

23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30- 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 
38. 
39- 
40. 
41. 
42. 

43. 
44. 

45- 
46. 
47. 
48. 

49. 
50. 
51. 
52. 
53. 
54. 
55. 
56. 
57. 
58. 

59. 
60. 
61. 
62. 

63. 
64. 
65. 
66. 


abneptis. 


atnepos 

atneptis 

trinepos 

trineptis 

fratres , 

sorores 

frater 

fratris  filius 

**       filiiuxor.. 

"       filia 

•*       filiae  vir. . . 

**       nepos 

**       neptis 

**       pronepos. . 

*'       proneptis. 

soror 

sororis  filius 

**  filii  uxor, 
filia 

**        filiae  vir.. 

**        nepos  . . . 

"        neptis.  . . . 

**        pronepos. 

'*        proneptis. 


patruus 

patrui  uxor. 
"      filius. 


filii  uxor. 

filia 

filiae  vir. . 
nepos . .  . . 
neptis. .  . 
pronepos. 
proneptis. 


amita 

amitae  vir 

filius 

filii  uxor.  . , 

filia 

filiae  vir. .  . 

nepos 

neptis 

pronepos. . 

proneptis. . 

avunculus 

avunculi  uxor 

filius 

"        filiiuxor. 

6 


great-great-gran  ddaugh  ter. 

'*      grandson's  grandson. 

"  **  granddaughter. 

"  "  great-grandson. 

"  **  "    granddaughter, 

brothers, 
sisters, 
brother, 
son  of  brother, 
wife  of  son  of  brother, 
daughter  of  brother, 
husband  of  daughter  of  brother, 
grandson  of  brother, 
granddaughter  of  brother, 
great-grandson  **         *' 

* '      granddaughter  of  brother, 
sister. 

son  of  sister, 
wife  of  son  of  sister, 
daughter  of  sister, 
husband  of  daughter  of  sister, 
sister's  grandson. 

**  granddaughter. 
*'  great-grandson. 
"  "    granddaughter, 

paternal  uncle, 
wife  of  paternal  uncle, 
son  of  paternal  uncle, 
wife  of  son  of  paternal  uncle, 
daughter  of  paternal  uncle, 
husband  of  daughter  of  paternal  uncle. 
grandson  of  paternal  uncle, 
granddaughter  of  paternal  uncle, 
great-grandson  '*  "  " 

**      granddaughter  of  paternal  uncle, 
paternal  aunt, 
husband  of  paternal  aunt, 
son  of  paternal  aunt, 
wife  of  son  of  paternal  aunt, 
daughter  of  paternal  aunt, 
husband  of  daughter  of  paternal  aunt, 
grandson  of  paternal  aunt, 
granddaughter  of  paternal  aunt, 
great-grandson  '*  **  ** 

"     granddaughter  of  paternal  aunt, 
maternal  uncle, 
wife  of  maternal  uncle, 
son    " 
wife  of  son  of  maternal  uncle. 


82 


The  Conquest  of  Death, 


67. 

avunculi  filia 

daughter  of  maternal  uncle. 

68. 

"        filiae  vir 

husband  of  daughter  of  maternal  uncle. 

69. 

70. 
71. 

"        nepos 

grandson  of  maternal  uncle, 
granddaughter  of  maternal  uncle, 
great-grandson  "           "             ** 

' '        neptis 

"        pronepos 

72. 

**        proneptis 

**      granddaughter  of  maternal  uncle. 

73. 

matertera 

maternal  aunt. 

74. 
75. 
76. 

77- 
78. 

79. 
80. 

materterse  vir 

Tm<iTmTirJ  nf  mfll'PTnnl   minf 

'<          filins 

son            **          **           ** 

filii  uxor 

wife  of  son  of     * '            " 

< 

filia 

daughter     *'       '' 

husband  of  daughter  of  maternal  aunt, 
grandson  of                            **            " 
granddaughter  of                  "           . " 
great-grandson  of                   "             " 
"     granddaughter  of        "            " 

( 

filise  vir 

( 

nepos 

( 

neptis 

81. 

< 

pronepos 

82. 

< 

proneptis 

83. 
84. 
85- 

patruus  mas^nus 

great-paternal  uncle. 

son  of  great-paternal  uncle. 

grandson  of  great-paternal  uncle. 

patrui  magni  filius 

nepos 

86. 

**        "        pronepos 

great-grandson  of  great-paternal  uncle. 

87. 

88. 

amita  magna 

great-paternal  aunt. 

daughter  of  great-paternal  aunt. 

amitae  magnse  filia 

89. 

neptis 

granddaughter  of  great- paternal  aunt. 

90. 

**            "        proneptis 

great-granddaughter  of  great-paternal  annt. 

91. 
92. 

avunculus  magnus 

great-maternal  uncle. 

son  of  great-maternal  uncle. 

avunculi  magni  filius 

93- 

"       nepos 

grandson  of  great-maternal  uncle. 

94. 

"            "       pronepos... 

great-grandson  of  great-maternal  uncle. 

95. 
96. 

matertera  magna 

great-maternal  aunt. 

daughter  of  great-maternal  aunt. 

materterae  magnse  filia 

97. 

"              •'        neptis.... 

granddaughter  of  great-maternal  aunt. 

98. 

"              "        proneptis. 

great-granddaughter.of  great-maternal  aunt. 

99. 
100. 

patruus  major 

paternal  great-great-uncle. 

son  of  paternal  great-great-uncle. 

patrui  majoris  filius 

lOI. 

nepos 

grandson  of  paternal  great-great-uncle. 

102. 

"          **        pronepos 

gt.-grandson  of  paternal  great-great-uncle. 

103. 
104. 

amita  major 

paternal  great-great-aunt. 

daughter  of  paternal  great-great-aunt. 

amitae  majoris  filia 

105. 

**          "        neptis 

granddaughter  of  paternal  great-great-aunt. 

106. 

"          "        proneptis.  . .. 

gt. -granddaughter  of  paternal  gt.-gt.-aunt. 

107. 

avunculus  major 

maternal  great-great-uncle. 

son  of  maternal  great-great-uncle. 

108. 

avunculi  majoris  filius 

109. 

**             "        nepos 

grandson  of  maternal  great-great-uncle. 

no. 

**             "        pronepos. . 

gt.-grandson  of  maternal  great-great-uncle. 

III. 

matertera  major 

maternal  great-great-aunt. 

daughter  of  maternal  great-great-aunt. 

112. 

materterae  majoris  filia 

113- 

"       neptis..  . 

granddaughter  of  maternal  great-great-aunt. 

114. 

"                "       proneptis. 

gt. -granddaughter  of  maternal  gt.-gt.-aunt. 

115. 

patru 

us  maximus 

paternal  great-great-great-uncle. 

Marriage. 


83 


116.  patrui  maximi  filius , 

117.  "  '*        nepos 

118.  *'  "        pronepos . . 

119.  amita  maxima 

120.  amitse  maximae  filia 

121.  *'  "        neptis 

122.  "  '*        proneptis. 

123.  avunculus  maximus 

124.  avunculi  maximi  filius 

125.  **  '*        nepos. . . 

126.  **  '*        pronepos 

127.  matertera  maxima 

128.  materterse  maximae  filia  . . 

129.  **  '•        neptis 

130.  '*  "        proneptis.. 

131.  vir,  maritus 

132.  socer 

133.  socrus 

134.  socer  magnus 

135.  socrus  magna 

136.  uxor,  marita 

137.  socer 

138.  socrus 

139.  socer  magnus 

140.  socrus  magna 

141.  vitricus 

142.  noverca 

143.  privignus 

144.  privigna 

145.  gener 

146.  nurus .' 

147.  lever 

148.  maritus  sororis 

149.  uxoris  frater 

150.  "      soror 

151.  glos 

152.  fratria , 

153.  vidua 

154.  viduus 

155.  agnati 

156.  cognati 

157.  affines 


son  of  paternal  great-great-great-uncle. 

grandson  of  paternal  gt.-gt.-gt. -uncle. 

gt.-grandson  of  paternal  gt.-gt.-gt.-uncle. 

paternal  great-great-great-aunt. 

daughter  of  paternal  great-great-great-aunt. 

granddaughter  of  paternal  gt.-gt.-gt. -aunt. 

gt.-granddau'terof        **         "    **    " 

maternal  great-great-great-uncle. 

son  of  maternal  great-great-great-uncle. 

g'dsonof  •'  "        "         ''        " 

gt.-grandson  of  maternal  gt.-gt.-gt.-uncle. 

maternal  great-great-great-aunt. 

daughter  of  maternal  great-great-great-aunt 

granddaughter  of  maternal  gt.-gt.-gt. -aunt. 

gt.-g'ddaughter  of        "         "    **    "      " 

husband.  ^ 

father-in-law. 

mother-in-law. 

great-father-in-law. 

**      mother-in-law. 
wife. 

father-in-law. 
mother-in-law. 
great-father-in-law. 

**     mother-in-law. 
step-father. 

"  -mother. 

"  -son. 

"  -daughter. 

son-in-law. 

daughter-in-law. 

brother-in-law. 
((        ((     (< 

brother  of  wife. 

sister      "     " 

sister-in-law. 
((     ((     (( 

widow, 
widower, 
agnates, 
cognates, 
marriage  relations. 


Polyandry  seems  to  have  been,  as  it  still  is,  the  prevailing  type 
of  regulated  sexual  association  amongst  a  few  primitive  peoples  of 
peaceful  policy.  It  is  confined  to  sterile  and  poor  tracts  of  country. 
It  is  of  two  kinds.   The  first,  that  in  which  a  woman  has  a  number  of 


84  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

different  husbands  not  necessarily  related  to  each  other  ;  this  can  be 
termed  the  Nair  type  of  polyandry,  as  it  has  been  well  observed  in 
the  Nair  tribe.  In  this  type  a  man  may  probably  be  one  in  several 
combinations  of  husbands,  and  therefore  may  have  more  than  one 
wife,  as  well  as  the  wife  have  more  than  one  husband.  This  type  is 
but  a  small  improvement  on  no  regulation.  In  fact  it  is  below  that 
of  many  animals  and  birds.  The  second  form  of  polyandry  is 
that  in  which  the  husbands  must  be  related,  as  in  the  hill  tribes 
of  Ceylon.  The  highest  grade  of  this  form  is  where  the  husbands 
must  be  brothers.  This  is  the  practice  in  parts  of  Thibet,  and  gives 
at  least  the  security  of  paternity  to  one  of  several  of  the  closest  blood 
tie.  Its  superiority  over  other  polyandrous  types  would  lead  us  to 
expect  that  at  least  some  communities  living  under  that  rule  would 
show  a  more  advanced  social  organization  than  could  be  found  in  any 
unregulated  community,  or  in  one  regulated  upon  other  polyandrous 
forms.     This  is  the  case. 

But  security  of  paternity  is  neither  regarded  nor  sought  for  in 
any  of  these  types.  The  virginity  of  the  woman  can  be  of  no 
moment,  and  her  chastity  after  marriage  cannot  be  of  much  import- 
ance, even  according  to  their  own  liberal  rules.  Under  such  a 
condition,  a  woman's  self-respect  cannot  be  very  great.  Dignity  in 
reproduction  and  high  breeding  are  at  a  low  point,  and  relationship 
must  be  through  the  mother  mainly.  Family  relationship  cannot  be 
as  strong  as  under  either  polygamy  or  monogamy. 

Polyandry  is  practised  by  a  number  of  rude  people  still,  and  by 
at  least  one  fairly  organized  community,  that  of  Thibet. 

In  polyandrous  communities  there  are  more  males  than  females,  a 
startling  variation  from  our  excess  of  women  in  civilized  communities. 
The  first  suggestion  to  account  for  this  condition  was  female  infanti- 
cide. Examination  showed  this  position  to  be  untenable.  We  now 
learn  that  the  births  in  these  communities  show  a  great  excess  of 
males.  Dunlop  found  in  one  Himalaya  district  400  boys  ta  120  girls. 
Amongst  the  Todas  of  the  Neilgherry  Hills  there  were  found  455 
males  to  249  females.  Marshall's  general  examination  of  the 
Todas  shows  the  percentage  of  the  sexes  to  be  100  males  to  75 
females.  No  female  infanticide  could  be  learned  of.  Amongst 
civilized  people  there  is  a  slight  excess  of  male  births.  Between  the 
ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty  the  sexes  are  in  about  equal  numbers. 
After  that,  the  females  predominate.  In  polygamous  countries, 
however,  there  is  generally  a  large  excess  of  female  births.  This  is 
the  case  in  most  of  Asia  Minor,  Morocco,  amongst  the  Mormons, 
etc.  In  some  of  these  places  there  are  as  many  as  three  to  one  in 
favor  of  the  females. 


Marriage,  85 

Nourishment  and  condition  seem  to  have  something  to  do  with 
this  proportion.  The  more  hardship  and  distress,  the  greater  the 
excess  of  males. 

Country  districts  show  a  male  excess. 
City  districts  show  a  female  excess. 
Rich  people  show  a  female  excess. 
Poor  people  show  a  male  excess. 

Ploss'  Saxon  figures  show  a  greater  excess  of  male  births  in  the 
highlands  than  in  the  lowlands.  The  conditions  amongst  poly- 
androus  peoples  are  unfavorable,  and  the  pressure  of  population  is 
continuously  against  an  inadequate  subsistence.  This  may  be  an 
explanation  of  the  great  excess  of  males  in  the  births  amongst  them. 

Evolution  of  Sex  is  a  very  valuable  book  by  Geddes  and  Thomp- 
son. The  results  of  investigation  and  experiment  to  the  present 
time  are  by  them  shown  to  indicate  a  connection  between  food  and 
conditions  and  the  determination  of  sex  in  reproduction.  As  food  is 
plenty  and  conditions  favorable,  so  is  the  proportion  of  females 
greatest.  The  contrary  produces  most  males.  Parthenogenetic  life 
is  especially  affected  by  nutrition  and  condition.  Under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  asexual  reproduction  is  greatly  prolonged  or 
continuous.  It  is  only  with  unfavorable  change  that  the  male  appears 
and  sexual  reproduction  takes  place.  The  normal  sex  proportion 
amongst  tadpoles  is  57  females  in  the  hundred  ;  by  care  and  feeding, 
this  has  been  changed  to  92  females  in  the  hundred.  Gentry  and 
Treat  have  shown  the  same  thing  to  be  true  of  bees,  caterpillars,  and 
aphidae,  Von  Siebold  as  to  wasps,  and  Rolph  as  to  the  Artemia  salina. 
Giron's  experiments  with  sheep  indicate  similar  results  amongst 
mammals.  He  took  150  ewes  on  good  feed  and  bred  them  to  two  young 
rams.  The  progeny  showed  60  females  to  the  hundred.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  other  ewes  he  put  on  poor  food  and  bred  to  two  old  rams. 
The  progeny  in  this  case  showed  40  females  in  the  hundred.  It 
seems  a  happy  provision  that,  under  favoring  conditions,  the  female — 
conservative,  non-progressive,  or  anabolic — type  of  life  should  prevail, 
while,  with  unfavorable  ones,  the  male— variable,  originating,  or 
katabolic — type  should  predominate  in  the  interest  of  change  and 
progress. 

Crossing  has  a  tendency  to  produce  females.  Amongst  mulattoes 
there  is  an  excess  of  12  to  15  per  cent,  of  females.  The  cross-breeds 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  Mexico,  and  Nicaragua  show  the  same.  Horses 
and  cattle  of  different  colors  generally  bear  females.  Jewish  mar- 
riages with  other  races,  from  the  following  small  example,  may  be 
taken  to  show  the  same. 


86  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

Of  ii8  such  marriages,  28  were  sterile.  To  the  others  were  born 
145  female  and  122  male  children.  The  ratio  would  be  118.82 
females  to  100  males. 

On  the  other  hand,  regular  Jewish  marriages  between  Jews  show 
a  ratio  of  114.50  males  to  100  females  (Jacobs).  Marriages  of  kins- 
folk tend  to  produce  males.  In-breeding  of  animals  does  the  same. 
The  Talmud  mentions  the  fact  of  crosses  running  to  females.  Ille- 
gitimate unions  tend  to  female  children  also  (Westermarck's 
History  of  Human  Marriage). 

McIycUan  is  the  main  authority  for  polyandry.  In  view  of  the 
ignorance  of  Mclycllan  {Primitive  Marriage)  as  to  the  gentes  rules 
of  marriage  which  his  descriptions  suggest,  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  this  polyandry  of  his  is  not  after  all  Punaluan  marriage,  or 
at  most  a  peculiar  and  very  local  aberration  from  it.  There  is  no 
known  system  of  consanguinity  to  indicate  a  past  or  present  poly- 
andry, as  differentiated  from  a  combined  polyandry  and  polygamy 
of  the  group-marriage  systems. 

These  systems  of  consanguinity  are  now  the  evidence  to  be  most 
relied  on  as  to  marriage  types.  They  are  set  forth  in  full  in  Dr. 
Morgan's  works,  but  are  conveniently  abridged  in  his  Ancient  Society. 

Polygamy  is  a  frequent  form  of  marriage  amongst  savages  and 
barbarians.  It  is  more  suited  to  the  military  type  of  society  than 
polyandry,  and  perhaps  even  more  than  monogamy.  It  may  have 
grown  out  of  military  contests.  Captured  women  would  be  looked 
on  as  property,  as  we  know  that  they  are  amongst  savage  men. 
Their  use  being  largely  for  sexual  gratification,  their  captors  would 
naturally  guard  their  chastity.  Out  of  this  feeling  could  grow  the 
desire  to  protect  the  chastity  of  the  women  born  in  the  tribe,  as  well 
as  that  of  those  brought  into  it,  and  also  from  this  idea  of  property 
probably  came  that  of  the  purchase  and  sale  of  women.  However, 
I  wish  it  understood  that  I  believe  the  feeling  or  instinct  for  sexual 
limitation,  which  we  have  formalized  into  varying  marriage  rules, 
comes  to  us  from  pre-human  ancestors. 

Polygamy  strengthens  the  family  by  making  the  paternity  of  the 
children  secure,  and  consequently  lends  itself  to  a  better  and  more 
powerful  organization  of  society  than  any  group  system.  Under  it, 
the  strongest  and  most  capable  men  will  do  the  breeding.  It  is  a 
form  which  has  had  its  value  and  has  enabled  mankind  to  progress 
and  to  perform  great  things.  Its  weakness  is  that  a  number  of  wives 
are  not  likely  to  be,  and  in  practice  are  not,  satisfied  with  the  divided 
attentions  of  one  man.  To  secure  their  chastity,  therefore,  the 
women  must  be  mewed  up  and  guarded.  So  in  those  polygamous 
countries,  where  the  type  is  at  its  highest,  we  find  the  women 


Marriage,  87 

imprisoned  in  harems  and  guarded  by  that  invention  of  polygamy, 
the  eunuch.  Thus  the  women,  having  little  opportunity  to  use  their 
faculties,  do  not  improve,  and  what  the  child  gains  from  the  activities 
of  its  father  it  loses  from  the  inactivity  of  its  mother.  The  qualities 
and  capacities  of  the  father  may  be  developed  and  improved  by  use 
in  polygamy,  and  the  men  with  strong  character  will  monopolize  the 
women  to  the  exclusion  of  the  weaker  individuals.  But  the  women 
having  no  chance  of  improvement,  what  is  gained  on  one  side  is  lost 
on  the  other,  and  the  family  cohesion  necessary  for  at  least  a  certain 
period  of  human  progress  is  not  possible,  owing  to  the  divided 
maternal  ancestry  and  the  consequent  rivalries. 

In  the  patriarchal  governments  in  which  marriage  was  often 
polygamous  (probably  originally  pastoral  ones),  the  progress  was 
accompanied  by  a  subordination  of  both  wives  and  children.  This 
in  the  end  defeated  itself,  for  too  great  subordination  in  both  cases 
necessarily  prevented  the  use  of  the  faculties  or  the  development 
of  individuality  and  character.  Society  has  long  vibrated  between 
the  extremes  of  no  family  control  and  too  much  family  control. 
We  cannot  seem  to  stop  at  the  juste  milieu  or  else  that  point 
varies. 

Monogamy  is  also  found  amongst  savages  of  a  ve^  primitive 
type  like  the  wood-Veddahs,  whose  mode  of  life  in  tropical  forests 
forces  the  man  to  live  alone,  or  with  his  wife  only,  for  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  the  year.  This  Veddah  marriage  is  probably  Syn- 
dyasmian,  a  pairing  to  last  at  pleasure.  It  must  also  be  noted  that, 
as  a  practice,  polygamy  is  never  universal  in  a  tribe.  Either  pov- 
erty and  inability  to  support  more  than  one  wife,  or  the  scarcity  and 
consequent  value  of  women,  or  both,  necessarily  limit  polygamy  to 
a  few.  The  general  observation  is  that  from  Utah  to  Central  Africa 
the  majority  of  married  persons  in  polygamous  countries  lead  a 
monogamous  life. 

While  it  is  true  that  primitive  man  is  found  with  monogamy,  it 
seems  in  these  cases  more  a  matter  of  the  conditions  of  life  than  a 
recognition  of  the  family  or  of  the  importance  of  procreation.  As 
a  lion  or  tiger  will  pair  off  with  one  female  of  its  species,  so  do  these 
men  with  a  female  of  the  tribe.  This  condition  is  not  conducive  to 
high  progress.  The  division  of  labor  and  the  help  of  one  another, 
necessary  to  the  highest  civilization,  are  only  possible  with  a  certain 
gregariousness. 

In  the  gregarious  life  amongst  the  animals,  we  see  only  promis- 
cuity or  a  sort  of  polygamy  in  which  sexual  intercourse  is  limited  by 
a  fighting  male.  The  monogamy  we  now  have  in  the  world,  it 
would  seem,  must  have  sprung  from  an  evolution  out  of  Syndyasmian 


88  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

marriage  or  from  polygamy.  In  polygamy  we  have  the  first  sense 
of  ownership  of  the  woman,  and  therefore  the  first  legal  desire  to 
monopolize  her  body.  From  this  comes  the  security  of  paternity. 
These  feelings  permeating  the  tribe  and  the  improved  social  possi- 
bilities advancing  their  position  and  developing  their  capacities,  we 
have  a  higher  standard  of  living,  to  the  perfection  of  which  fewer 
can  arrive.  Consequently  few  men  have  more  than  one  wife,  and 
the  formation  of  an  opinion  favored  by  the  condition  of  the  majority 
against  polygamy  is  probable.  Karly  Jewish  marriages  were  often- 
polygamous.  We  may  reasonably  presume  that  the  evolution  from 
polygamy  to  monogamy  in  the  Jews  has  had  many  counterparts^ 
especially  in  those  societies  coming  out  of  a  patriarchal  system. 

Spencer's  Prificiples  of  Sociology,  Morgan's  Ancient  Society,  and 
Mclycllan's  Traces  of  Early  History  are  good  books  in  which  to 
study  the  origin  of  the  family.  McLellan,  however,  falls  into  many 
errors.  The  general  view  which  these  works  give  of  the  growth  of 
the  morals  of  man  in  the  sexual  relation  is  striking. 

From  promiscuity  to  our  present  condition  of  monogamy,  with 
only  the  weaker  members  falling  away  into  prostitution,  is  a  great 
and  wonderful  advance.  When,  however,  conditions  become  unfav- 
orable, we  have  periods  of  decay,  and  a  reversion  to  these  primitive 
practices  of  license.  Each  fall,  however,  seems  less  low  than  the 
last,  and  each  rise,  greater. 

The  progress  in  the  opinion  of  men  in  the  license  of  war  is 
marked.  At  first  the  women  were  captured  and  held  permanently 
for  wives,  concubines,  or  slaves.  Gradually  we  see  this  practice  re- 
laxing, but  the  armed  conquerors,  while  relinquishing  the  permanent 
enjoyment  of  the  charms  of  defenceless  women,  still  exacting  a  tem- 
porary penalty.  So  all  the  wars  of  the  Huns,  Goths,  Vandals,  Sara- 
cens, etc.,  were  marked  by  the  rape  of  matrons  and  the  violation  of 
virgins  in  the  enemies'  country  whenever  opportunity  occurred^ 
though  they  did  not  carry  the  women  off  as  had  been  the  case  be- 
fore. The  story  of  the  capture  of  the  Sabine  women  by  the  Romans 
and  their  retention  for  wives  is  an  instance  of  the  earlier  practices  in 
this  regard. 

The  Saracens  when  conquering  Asia  Minor  were  offered  by  their 
officers,  from  the  cities  to  be  conquered,  the  most  beautiful  women 
for  their  use.  The  Arab  soldiers  in  the  trenches  and  on  their  deserts, 
with  primitive  ideas  of  sexual  intercourse,  were  exalted  by  their 
dreams  and  ideals  which  the  results  of  rape  could  never  realize.  To- 
day, in  our  wars,  rape  of  a  general  character,  such  for  instance  as  is 
said  to  have  been  committed  on  the  Romans  by  the  soldiers  of 
Charles  V.,  not  so  very  long  ago,  is  neither  practised  by  the  con- 


Marriage,  89 

querors  nor  dreaded  by  the  vanquished.  This  is,  indeed,  an  ad- 
vance. 

While  monogamy  has  advantages  which  carry  man  beyond  any 
other  system,  the  liberty  of  women  it  allows,  and  must  allow  for  its 
best  results,  or  rather  best  results  for  the  future  race,  causes  many 
to  fall  into  prostitution.  This  again  weeds  out  the  inferior  natures, 
for  prostitutes,  speaking  generally,  breed  but  little. 

In  monogamy,  for  the  security  of  paternity  given  by  the  limita- 
tion of  sexual  intercourse,  the  man  gives  protection  to  the  woman 
and  child  in  sickness  and  in  health,  and  in  age  as  in  youth.  For 
woman,  the  marriage  contract  is  a  boon  immediate  and  personal.  For 
the  man,  it  is  a  boon  immediate  and  personal.  Which  sex  gains  the 
more,  it  is  hard  to  say  ;  but  which  loses  the  more,  where  the  society 
or  the  individual  do  not  live  sexually  in  marriage,  is  clear.  It  is  the 
woman. 

The  strength  and  position  of  any  nation  now  may  be  gauged  by 
an  accurate  statement  of  its  marriage  system  in  practice  thirty  to 
fifty  years  before  the  period  at  which  the  estimate  is  to  be  made.  The 
future  condition  may  be  foreseen  by  its  actual  practice  in  this  regard. 

As  soon  as  a  people  demanded  chastity  of  the  mothers  and  cer- 
tainty of  the  paternity  of  the  children  to  one  man,  they  passed  other 
nations  not  taking  this  course,  as  though  these  had  been  stationary. 
In  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to  the  indication 
that  from  the  earliest  geological  epoch,  as  well  as  from  the  earliest 
traces  of  man,  we  have  every  reason  to  think  that  progress  has  been 
always  increasing  its  speed.  From  the  almost  inconceivable  slow- 
ness of  the  first  period  of  organized  life,  it  has  come  to  a  pace  that  in 
our  own  time  is  quite  appreciable  even  in  1,000  years. 

The  evolution  of  man  has  certain  well  known  lines  from  which 
the  only  escape  is  the  final  death  of  extinction.  Man  is  bom,  de- 
velops, reaches  maturity,  decays,  and  dies.  The  atoms  and  particles 
of  which  he  is  composed  go  through  the  same  history.  They  are 
bom,  develop,  mature,  decay,  die,  and  are  eliminated  from  our 
systems  to  be  replaced  by  other  atoms.  The  body  while  apparently 
the  same,  or  undergoing  change  but  slowly,  is  in  reality  entirely 
changed  in  its  composition  within  very  short  periods  ;  and  a  young 
man  may  within  a  year  not  contain  a  single  atom  of  flesh  matter  that 
was  a  part  of  himself  the  year  before. 

What  is  true  of  the  individual,  is  tme  of  society.  Its  atoms  are 
men.  Society  changes  slowly,  almost  imperceptibly,  like  the  man ; 
but  men,  the  atoms,  are  continually  developing,  maturing,  dying, 
and  being  replaced  by  others,  while  the  society  of  which  they  are 
the  living  parts  maintains  its  general  characteristics. 


90  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

The  short  life  of  man,  the  unit  of  society,  makes  it  absolutely 
essential  that  he  should  reproduce  himself,  or  else  society  must  die 
and  mankind  become  extinct.  The  atoms  in  man  have  different 
functions  :  some  carry  on  the  work  of  digestion,  as  in  the  stomach  or 
liver  ;  others,  locomotion,  as  in  the  legs  ;  others,  elimination,  as  in  the 
skin  and  kidneys  ;  and  others,  the  intelligence  that  governs  the  whole, 
as  in  the  brain.  Bach  set  must  exist  and  be  replaced  by  its  kind. 
An  ancient  Roman  saw  and  used  this  analogy  to  society.  Human 
society,  however,  is  not  as  yet  thus  fixed  in  its  reproduction.  The 
idea  has  nevertheless  been  formulated  in  governments,  most  notably 
among  the  Hindoos,  and  is  a  general  tendency  of  social  organiza- 
tions. 

Thus  far,  however,  the  brain  atoms  of  human  society  have  been 
unable  to  maintain  their  reproductive  power.  These  brain  atoms  of 
society  have  been  continually  replaced  by  other  new  atoms  from 
lower  strata,  simply  through  the  loss  or  neglect  of  the  reproductive 
power  in  the  higher  men.  The  brain  of  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Greek, 
and  Roma-n  society  has  died  and  become  extinct.  So  progress  has 
been  retarded. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  line  of  advance  of  man  exacts  reproduc- 
tion. The  penalty  of  non-fulfilment  of  this  law  to  the  individual  or 
to  the  race  is  death,  permanent  death  and  extinction. 

The  history  of  evolution,  as  written  in  the  rocks,  is  strewn  with' 
wrecks.  Mollusks,  fishes,  and  saurians  show,  each  in  their  special 
periods,  wonderful  developments  in  size  and  power.  Amongst  the 
mammals  the  mammoth,  mastodon,  and  American  elephant  showed 
a  greater  size  and  physical  power  than  anything  we  now  have ;  so 
also  we  see  that  gigantic  horses,  deer,  beavers,  tapirs,  and  oxen 
with  horns  nine  feet  from  tip  to  tip  once  roamed  on  the  earth.  The 
fire  of  true  progress,  however,  was  carried  by  what  must  have  been 
deemed  an  inferior  animal,  the  ancestor  of  man,  and  the  greatest  de- 
velopments in  other  lines  are  now  dead  and  extinct. 

So  also  with  man,  from  him  of  Neanderthal  or  Men  tone  down, 
race  after  race,  civilization  after  civilization,  some  remarkedly  devel- 
oped or  organized  in  one  line  and  some  in  another  have  arisen,  been 
found  wanting,  and,  like  the  great  saurians  and  mammals,  are  now 
dead  and  out  of  sight. 

These  considerations  should  cause  us  to  continually  study  and 
reflect  to  see  how  we  may  escape  a  fate  so  general  and  move  on  in 
the  tide  of  progress. 

Marriage  has  now  two  extremes,  both  of  which  are  bad  and  one 
is  fatal.  One  is  the  harem  of  polygam3^  Under  this  system, 
sexual  pleasure  has  complete  dominion  and  the  reproductive  powers 


Marriage,  9 1 

are  secondary.  The  girls  are  sometimes  circumcised  by  the  cutting 
of  the  clitoris  at  the  age  of  seven  ;  after  this  they  become  eligible 
as  wives.  Usually  by  ten  or  twelve  they  are  such,  and  very  rarely 
over  sixteen  when  married.  The  consequence  of  this  is  that  the 
organs  of  generation  are  frequently  injured  by  premature  use,  and 
the  sterility  so  common  amongst  the  women  of  polygamous  com- 
munities is  doubtless  largely  due  to  this  cause.  It  is  also  probably 
often  due  to  premature  and  excessive  sexual  indulgence,  and  to  the 
almost  exclusive  cultivation  of  sexual  passion  in  the  thoughts  and 
acts  of  the  harem. 

The  children  bom  of  children  cannot  be  fully  developed.  The 
girls  themselves,  being  immured  and  guarded  beyond  the  possibility 
of  fully  using  any  of  their  instincts  of  self-protection,  necessarily  lack 
character  and  self-reliance.  The  children  must  inherit  these  unused 
functions  and  be  weak  in  them.  From  most  points  of  view,  the 
harem  system  is  defective.  This  system,  however,  provides  for 
the  sterility  of  a  wife,  by  its  permission  to  marry  many  without 
casting  off  the  sterile  one. 

On  the  other  extreme  is  what  we  may  call  the  present  native  New 
England  condition  of  marriage.  Here  we  have  an  intense  pressure 
on  the  nervous  system  of  young  girls,  to  develop  the  memory  and 
intellect  without  a  corresponding  regard  for  the  body.  As  a  conse- 
quence, the  women  are  often  physically  imperfect  and  delicate,  with 
a  diminished  natural  taste  for  the  duties  and  delights  of  a  wife,  and 
a  lessened  capacity  for  the  grand  creative  functions  of  the  mother. 
Besides  this  absolute  lessening  of  the  instincts  leading  to  reproduc- 
tion and  absolute  lessening  of  the  physical  power  to  be  a  mother,  the 
whole  tendency  of  the  New  England  method  of  bringing  up  young 
women  is  to  cultivate  ambitions  inconsistent  with  maternity.  The 
sexual  instincts  are  effaced  and  the  godlike  power  of  creation  in 
motherhood  is  always  neglected  or  belittled  and  often  actually  con- 
demned. 

This  educational  system,  like  its  extreme  opposite,  induces  innate 
sterility,  and  equally  like  the  Mohammedan  leads  to  practices  caus- 
ing artificial  sterility.  Under  both  these  systems  women  become 
barren  from  physical  causes. 

The  polygamous  system  is  bad,  the  New  England  system  is  fatal. 
The  first  encourages  beyond  nature  the  instincts  leading  to  fertility 
and  consequently  weakens  reproduction.  The  second  discourages 
both  the  instinct  and  its  result. 

The  low  birth-rate  in  New  England,  the  weakness  of  reproduction 
amongst  the  native  Americans,  and  the  replacement  of  the  original 
American  stock  by  immigrants  have  been  attributed  to  climatic  rea- 


92  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

sons.  The  Province  of  Quebec,  with  a  climate  more  severe  than  that 
of  New  England,  was  settled  by  the  French  at  about  the  same  time 
that  New  England  commenced  its  life.  This  French  stock,  repro- 
ductively  weak  at  home,  has  become  strong  here  and  is  even  flowing 
over  into  New  England.  Seven  elevenths  of  the  births  in  New  Eng- 
land are  now  of  Catholic  parents.  Consequently,  with  two  such 
diverse  results  in  similar  climates,  we  must  eliminate  climate  as  the 
cause.  The  difference  in  reproductive  power  between  the  English 
and  French  at  home  was  institutions,  manners,  and  customs.  The 
same  causes  have  turned  the  tables  here.  The  French  Canadians 
are  sound  on  reproduction  ;  the  native  New  Englanders  are  not. 
Therefore,  the  French  are  replacing  them.  Unless  reform  comes,  no 
New  Englanders  of  the  original  stock  will  be  left  in  New  Eng- 
land within  a  few  generations. 

Man  must  reproduce  or  become  extinct.  Monogamj^  is  the  best 
form  of  securing  healthy,  well-cared-for,  and  well-developed  progeny. 
Any  system  of  society  or  marriage  which  does  not  insist  on  the 
necessity  of  reproduction  is  an  aberration  furnishing  a  passport  to 
death  and  extermination.  The  instinct  of  reproduction  in  civilized 
man  is  more  and  more  controlled  by  the  reason  and  therefore  by 
government.  As  men  develop  and  as  they  reach  a  certain  point  in 
wealth  and  intelligence  they  continually  stumble  into  this  aberration 
of  sterility.  As  a  consequence,  the  upper  classes  continually  disap- 
pear, extinguished  by  their  own  acts  and  sink  into  the  black  death 
of  deaths  from  which  no  renewed  self,  no  child,  no  flesh  of  their  own 
flesh  carries  on  their  likeness  and  their  life  to  the  future  perfect  race. 

The  sexual  reproductive  instincts  of  the  lower  animals  are  in- 
tensified and  spiritualized  in  all  harmoniously  developed  men.  This 
instinct,  in  its  best  form,  we  call  love. 

As  man  has  the  highest  spiritualized  instinct  of  reproduction  in 
love,  and  has  even  a  still  higher  capacity  of  appreciation  of  the  re- 
productive act  by  the  power  of  the  reason  to  comprehend  its  god- 
like possibilities  and  its  material  promise  of  immortality,  so  also  he 
has  the  faculty  of  a  complete  abuse  and  prostitution  in  lust  of  this 
wonderful  power,  unknown  to  any  lower  animal. 

Thus  man's  reproductive  acts  are  lifted  by  nature,  through  love, 
far  above  those  of  the  animals,  and  may  be  still  further  elevated  by 
the  reason,  through  the  recognition  of  the  immortalizing  feature  of 
these  acts.  But  man  has  also  the  capacity  of  debasing  the  instincts 
leading  to  reproduction  far  below  those  of  the  animals,  and  of  leading 
these  instincts  into  fruitless  paths  of  passion. 

Ivove  is  tmknown  where  marriage  is  unknown.  It  is  weak  where 
marriage  is  weak.     In  times  when  marriage  lacks  consideration  love 


Marriage,  93 

is  despised.  Therefore  love  may  be  deemed  the  outcome  of  mar- 
riage. In  primitive  life  conjugal  love  anses,  when  it  arises  at  all, 
after  the  birth  of  children. 

The  main  point  of  excellence  and  superiority  of  marriage  is  that 
it  furnishes  to  the  man  through  the  certainty  of  paternity,  and  by 
means  of  his  child,  his  renewed  and  immortalized  self,  a  motive  for 
thought,  invention,  and  work  applying  to  things  he  can  only  enjoy 
through  his  child,  his  new  self,  which  nothing  else  has  given  or  can 
give. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  clear  that  marriage  without  chil- 
dren is  like  the  rose  without  its  flower,  like  the  fruit  tree  without  its 
fruit,  like  the  wheat  field  without  its  grain.  Without  progeny  it  is 
an  idle  and  unreasonable  rule. 

The  folk-lore  of  Germany  describes  marriage  without  children  as 
the  world  without  the  sun.  Amongst  a  number  of  tribes  marriage 
did  not  take  place  until  the  birth  of  a  child, — a  practice  we  may 
find  traces  of  in  numerous  betrothal  customs,  some  historical  and 
others  existing.  By  these  customs  a  betrothal,  as  far  as  sexual  inter- 
course was  concerned,  was  equivalent  to  our  marriage. 

Sexual  intercourse,  unhallowed  by  the  creation  of  the  child,  is 
lust.  The  marriage  tie  under  such  circumstances  partakes  of  the 
character  of  the  laws  prevailing  in  some  countries  for  the  licensing 
of  courtesans,  except  that  it  licenses  and  limits  both  sexes  for 
prostitution. 

To  the  woman  without  children  there  might  be  some  compensa- 
tion for  the  limitation  required  by  marriage  in  the  security  of  care 
in  ugliness  and  old  age,  but  for  the  male  there  is  nothing  in  being 
tied  to  one  prostitute  or  companion  for  lust  after  she  has  lost  her 
physical  attractions. 

Our  civilization  has  come  to  the  point  come  to  by  others  dead  and 
gone  in  the  ages  of  the  past,  where  the  higher  types  avoid  having 
children  or  refuse  to  be  bothered  with  them  at  all.  Prevention  of 
conception  or  abortion  is  notoriously  the  rule  in  intelligent  commu- 
nities, and  marriage  may  be  for  companionship,  for  money,  for  lust, 
for  anything,  but  it  is  not  for  the  child.  Still  real  marriage  is  for 
the  child,  and  its  whole  reason  for  being  rests  on  procreation.  If 
this  be  a  correct  conception  of  the  condition  to  which  conjugal  life 
has  come  in  our  community,  we  can  understand  one  reason  why 
men  are  more  and  more  marrying  late  or  refusing  to  marry  at  all. 

Without  the  desire  for  children  they  prefer  prostitutes  to  wives,  for 
the  former  are  changeable  at  pleasure,  and  are  consequently  more 
studious  to  please  than  the  wife,  and  need  not  be  lived  with  when 
passie.     There  are  good  reasons  to  think  that  the  men  have  had 


94  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

something  to  do  with  this  idea  of  not  having  children.  However  it 
commenced,  it  is  the  women  who  suffer  most  from  it.  The  men 
lose  a  great  deal — the  cream  of  life,  in  fact, — but  the  women  lose 
ever^^thing. 

A  wife  without  children  is  a  mere  sewer  to  pass  off  the  unfruitful 
and  degraded  passions  and  lust  of  one  man.  It  is  perfectly  certain 
that  a  wife  without  children  can  never  have  the  regard,  respect,  and 
love  of  the  husband  that  the  wife-mother  has  who  in  children  blends 
her  husband  and  herself  in  a  new  being,  who  will  lift  the  spark  of 
both  lives  from  their  dying  embers,  and  carry  it  flaming  to  a  possible 
material  immortality. 

The  experience  of  those  who  have  sinned  can  alone  give  voice  to 
its  pain  and  inferiority  over  righteousness.  Ripe,  complete  love  only 
comes  with  the  ripe  and  complete  fruit  of  love — that  is,  the  child. 

The  kiss  and  the  embrace  of  the  wife-mother  and  of  the  husband- 
father  has  possibilities  of  holy  and  intense  pleasure  which  that  of 
mere  lustful  companionship  never  gives,  and  never  can  give.  The 
entire  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  man  and  woman,  after  fruit  in 
children,  may  be  and  ought  to  be  intensified  and  sanctified  in  its  joy 
and  happiness.  Their  unity  receives  its  seal  in  the  glory  of  creation. 
For  parents  there  is  no  old  age,  no  death.  Their  lives  and  youth  are 
renewed,  and  blossom  in  themselves  new-bom,  the  offspring  of  their 
loins.  The  parents  live  again,  are  young  again,  and  may  be  im- 
mortal in  the  child. 

Marriage  without  children  is  an  empty,  unreasonable  piece  of 
nonsense,  a  mere  aberration,  a  preliminary  of  extermination.  The 
child  is  the  bond  of  marriage.  In  it  the  husband  and  wife  are 
united.     The  death  of  the  bond  is  the  only  divorce. 

lyove  has  so  ill-defined  a  meaning  with  most  persons  and  is  applied 
to  so  many  of  our  feelings  that  it  is  necessary  to  set  down  clearly 
what  is  meant  when  the  word  love  is  used.  The  poverty  of  our 
language  obliges  us  to  use  this  word  for  describing  sentiments  of 
exceedingly  different  kind. 

Dr.  Louis  de  Ser6  says  :  * '  Of  all  human  passions  love  is  the  one 
that  moves  and  unites  souls  most  powerfully,  the  one  that  awakens 
the  noblest  and  most  generous  feelings,  and  above  all  exercises  the 
strongest  sway  over  the  senses  to  the  extent  of  leading  impassioned 
natures  to  the  greatest  excesses."  Its  manifestations  are  clearly 
recognizable  in  insects,  fishes,  and  in  animals.  Ornament,  color, 
song,  self-sacrifice,  and  courtship  are  all  found  in  the  life  below  us. 
Montegazza  in  his  Physiology  of  Love  says  that  the  whole  of  nature  is 
a  hymn  of  love.  The  chirping  of  insects,  the  croaking  of  frogs,  the 
songs  of  birds,  the  cries  of  animals,  the  love  dance  of  the  firefly,  the 


Marriage,  95 

colors  and  odors  of  flowers,  are  all  intimately  connected  with  repro- 
duction. Humanity  has  no  monopoly  in  this  matter.  Our  sex  love 
is  only  different  in  degree. 

As  it  is  here  spoken  of,  love  means  that  budding  out  and  spiritu- 
alization  of  the  reproductive  instincts  coming  to  humanity  after  the 
age  of  puberty.  It  may  exist  without  any  knowledge  of  the  repro- 
ductive functions,  and  without  any  recognition  of  what  this  springs 
from  or  what  it  ought  to  produce — that  is,  children. 

While  a  special  Indian  Commissioner  in  the  Southwest,  I  was 
much  struck  by  the  total  absence  of  caresses  between  the  sexes 
amongst  the  Indians.  An  Australian  traveller  mentions  the  same 
fact  and  says  specifically  that  he  never  saw  a  savage  man  place  his 
arm  around  the  waist  of  a  woman.  Monteiro  in  his  Tribes  of  Africa 
speaks  of  the  absence  of  love  and  caresses  ;  Lichtenstein,  Du  Chaillu, 
and  others  have  observed  this  peculiarity.  Spencer's  researches  con- 
firm this  absence  of  love  amongst  savages. 

The  fact  that  these  observations  apply  largely,  if  not  entirely,  to 
communities  where  marriage  is  of  the  Punaluan  or  group  order 
gives  a  reasonable  explanation  of  why  love — the  spiritualization  of 
reproduction — should  be  in  abeyance  or  absent. 

Love  in  its  complete  sense  is  of  modem  origin.  Its  first  mani- 
festations were  doubtless  individualized  and  recognized  sexual  desire. 
This  we  now  see  refined  into  romantic  love  before  marriage  in  which 
sexual  gratification  may  play  no  recognized  part.  This  is  the  ideal 
desire  for  reproduction,  and  is  not  real  love.  The  highest  form  of 
love  is  conjugal.     This  is  the  real  thing,  a  thing  and  not  an  ideal. 

Romantic  love  is  full  of  illusions  and  extremes,  ecstasies  of  joy  or 
sorrow,  hope  or  despair,  running  into  a  sickness  like  madness.  It  is 
necessarily  temporary  and,  if  its  end  be  not  achieved,  recurrent. 
Conjugal  love  is  smooth  and  deep,  strong  and  constant ;  it  cannot 
exist  without  respect.  The  first  is  the  flashing  lighthouse  that 
shows  us  a  port ;  and  the  second,  the  harbor  itself  in  which  we  com- 
mand more  than  the  riches  of  the  world  by  our  commerce  of  love. 

In  modem  love  the  gratification  of  the  imagination  surpasses  the 
gratification  of  the  body,  and  the  sensual  is  surpassed  by  the 
spiritual.  Love  probably  has  some  development  even  amongst  the 
primitive  societies  where  these  are  upon  the  individual  basis,  and  for 
that  matter  amongst  birds  and  animals  also. 

Numerous  observations  of  male  regard  for  the  female  in  various 
tribes  are  of  record,  and  the  higher  position  of  woman  and  her  relief 
from  the  severity  of  outside  labor  would  indicate  that  such  must  be 
the  case.  The  stories  and  songs  of  the  Arabs  show  also  that  at  least 
at  their  stage  of  development  love  is  known. 


g6  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

Jealousy  is  an  instinct  common  to  many  animals  and  birds,  as 
well  as  man.  It  is  useful  in  preserving  the  purity  of  the  breed  and 
the  productiveness  of  the  female  injured  or  destroyed  by  promiscuity. 
It  is  a  feeling  out  of  which  some  of  our  ideas  as  to  limitation  of 
sexual  intercourse  and  marriage  may  have  arisen.  But  that  it  is  an 
outgrowth  of  the  highest  form  of  love  is  not  to  be  lightly  admitted. 
It  would  carry  us  down  to  the  dogs  in  our  ideals. 

Jealousy  amongst  men  is  generally  found  strongest  in  societies 
where  the  moral  tone  as  to  women  is  low,  as  in  Southern  Italy, 
Spain,  etc. 

The  jealousy  of  women  in  polygamous  households  is  a  fair  indi- 
cation as  to  the  extent  of  the  development  of  their  tender  feelings. 
Without  some  sort  of  love  there  cannot  be  jealousy.  So  amongst  the 
primitive  militant  types  from  which  our  development  comes  the 
absence  of  the  caress  is  accompanied  by  the  absence  of  jealousy,  and, 
by  inference,  of  love  also.  At  the  same  time,  we  must  recognize  the 
evident  fact  that  the  modem  strength  and  power  of  love  is  still 
unknown  and  unfelt  by  a  large  part  of  the  population  in  even  our 
most  civilized  countries.  Its  highest  manifestation,  as  a  rule,  is  an 
accompaniment  of  brain  development. 

lyOve  commonly  appears  in  girls  and  boys  considerably  before 
they  are  suflSciently  mature  to  either  bear  good  children  or  support 
the  physical  effort  necessary  for  this  great  result.  This  premature 
,effect  may  be  avoided  or  postponed  by  healthy  outdoor  occupation 
and  exercise.  These  first  flowers  of  love,  like  the  first  flowers  of  the 
rose,  are  never  perfect,  and  this  splendid  instinct  should  not  be 
trusted  until  it  is  in  its  prime,  say  at  25  years  in  the  man,  and  at  18 
in  the  woman.     At  these  ages  the  instinct  seldom  errs. 

Love  is  never  complete  and  perfect,  no  matter  how  much  the 
passions  common  to  the  lower  animals  may  mislead  one,  until  the 
fruit — that  is,  the  child — comes.  It  is  then,  if  ever,  that  men  and 
women  really  love  each  other  in  a  true  and  complete  wa3^  All  the 
other  dreams,  etherealizations,  self-effacement,  or  gusts  of  passion  are 
but  the  preliminaries,  the  preparation,  cultivation,  and  seeding  of  the 
ground. 

lyOve,  like  the  fruit  of  the  grain,  is  only  in  existence  when  the 
harvest  is  ready  to  gather.  In  some  sensitive  human  beings  love's 
preliminaries  are  often  abnormally  developed,  and  cause  sickness, 
melancholy,  and  even  death.  Such  sensitive  ones  must  be  carefully 
tended,  not  noticing  much  their  ailments,  or  speaking  of  its  cause, 
but  giving  them,  by  action,  occupation,  or  change  of  scene,  a  means 
of  diverting  the  energy  from  a  great  but  perverted  instinct,  and  allow- 
ing the  animal  balance  to  become  established.     Love  is  much  more 


Marriage,  97 

apt  to  develop  fully  and,  unfortunately,  to  become  perverted  or  un- 
controllable in  the  virtuous  than  in  the  licentious.  As  soon,  there- 
fore, as  the  bodily  powers  are  fully  developed,  marriage  should  be 
encouraged,  if  for  no  other  reason  to  give  love  a  healthy  and  moral 
means  of  expansion  and  growth.  If  this  is  not  done  trouble  is 
almost  sure  to  ensue,  either  to  the  constitution  and  body,  or  to  the 
morals  and  the  mind. 

IvOve  is,  after  all,  in  the  mature,  the  best  guide  to  marriage.  But 
this  is  not  true  in  childhood  or  in  old  age.  Love  is  the  guide  the 
highest  development  of  nature  gives  us. 

Natural  marriages,  that  is,  those  where  the  inclinations  at  the 
age  of  full  maturity  have  alone  had  play,  are  almost  always  between 
persons  of  different  mental  and  nerve  tendencies.  It  is  a  commonly 
received  opinion  that  such  marriages  are  the  happiest. 

In  civilized  countries,  and  in  fact  in  all  countries,  things  other 
than  the  natural  inclinations  play  a  prominent  part  in  selections  of 
life  partners.  The  chapters  on  the  selection  of  a  husband  or  a  wife 
discuss  this  subject.  A  very  important  thing  to  consider  in  advising 
early  marriage  is  its  bearing  on  the  health  of  body,  mind,  and 
morals. 

The  vital  statistics  of  every  country  that  has  taken  the  marriage 
relation  into  consideration  show  an  increased  prospect  of  life  for  the 
married — that  is,  the  death-rate  is  higher  amongst  the  single  than 
amongst  the  married.  When  we  consider  the  amount  of  disease  and 
misery  that  each  extra  death  represents,  we  can  perceive  the  import- 
ance of  this  matter.  For  each  person  that  dies  there  are  a  consider- 
able number  of  sick.  As  there  are  more  deaths  proportionately 
amongst  the  single  than  amongst  the  married,  there  must  be  vastly 
more  sickness  amongst  the  single  also. 

Of  moral  disease  we  have  no  account,  and  probably  need  none, 
to  know  which  of  the  two  conditions  is  healthier.  A  well  considered 
marriage  demands  and  leads  to  morality.  The  immorality  of  the 
race  is  largely  monopolized  by  the  single.  It  must  be  remembered 
here  that  a  man  or  woman  without  children  is  really  single,  though 
nominally  married.  Married  men,  whose  wives  from  one  cause  or 
another  do  not  sufficiently  fill  the  position  of  spouse,  are  large  sup- 
porters of  vice.' 

The  health  of  the  mind  is  equally  with  that  of  the  body  and  the 
morals  affected  by  marriage.  Insanity  is  more  prevalent  amongst 
the  single  than  amongst  the  married,  and  crime  and  suicide  also. 

In  Switzerland  two  fifths  of  the  divorces  are  of  sterile  couples, 
while  sterile  marriages  are  but  one  fifth  of  all  marriages.  We  can 
thus  note  the  marked  effect  of  sterility  in  weakening  the  marriage  tie. 


98  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

The  figures  compiled  by  the  l^ondiQw  Jouryial  of  Institute  Actuaries 
in  1 88 1  gives  the  death-rate  per  thousand  amongst  married  and  sin- 
gle women,  from  the  age  of  15  upwards,  as  follows  : 

Married.     .     .     89,703. 
Single    .     .     .     90,174- 

More  recent  statistics  in  England  are  as  follows:  Of  each  1,000 
men  who  marry,  861  are  bachelors  and  139  widowers,  while  of 
each  1,000  women  only  98  have  been  married  before,  and  902 
are  spinsters.  Twelve  marriages  out  of  every  100  are  second  mar- 
riages. The  average  age  at  which  men  marry  is  about  27,  while 
the  average  at  which  women  marry  is  about  25  years.  Out  of  every 
1,000  persons,  602  are  unmarried,  345  are  married,  and  53  widowed. 
Over  one  half  of  all  the  women  between  15  and  45  are  unmarried. 
Married  women  live  two  years  longer  than  single  ones.  If  the 
mother  dies  first  the  father  survives  9I  years,  but  if  the  father  dies 
first  the  survival  of  the  mother  is  1 1 J  years  as  an  average.  Two 
thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-one  births  occur  in  England  daily. 
February  is  the  month  in  which  the  greatest  number  of  births  occur  ; 
June,  the  month  in  which  occur  the  fewest.  The  average  number  of 
births  for  each  marriage  is  4.33.     In  every  1,000  births  11  are  twins. 

Statistics  from  the  census  of  1890  show  that  in  a  class  of  Jews 
sufficiently  superior  to  fill  out  and  return  the  ofiicial  blanks  sent 
them,  the  death-rate  of  married  women  is  higher  up  to  the  age  of 
35  than  that  of  the  single  women,  but  the  married  women  having 
passed  that  age  the  death-rate  changes  in  a  marked  manner,  and  the 
rate  is  higher  amongst  the  single  than  amongst  the  married.  The 
death-rate  is  always  higher  amongst  these  Jewish  men  when  single 
than  when  married.  The  figures  for  this  class  of  Jews  show  further 
that  marriages  take  place  later  in  life  than  amongst  the  general  pop- 
ulation. The  excess  of  married  women's  mortality  over  the  single  is 
between  the  ages  of  25  and  35,  and  not  before  or  after.  It  is  conse- 
quently a  fair  presumption  that  the  unfavorable  figures  for  married 
women  covering  but  one  decade  are  at  least  partly  due  to  late  mar- 
riages and  the  well-known  increased  risk  of  first  births  after  the  age 
of  23  or  24. 

The  life-insurance  companies  are  operated  on  a  business  and  not 
upon  a  sentimental  basis.  The  extra  fee  of  five  dollars  for  every 
thousand  insured  which  the  largest  of  these  companies  now  impose 
on  single  and  childless  women  over  married  mothers  is  an  indica- 
tion in  the  same  line. 

If  it  be  true  that  there  are  23,000  divorces  in  the  United  States  to 
21,000  in  all  the  other  portions  of  the  world,  we  must  admit  an  un- 


Marriage, 


99 


healthy  condition  of  the  marriage  relation  in  our  country.  If  figures 
for  America,  therefore,  are  in  any  way  less  strikingly  favorable  to 
the  married  for  health  and  longevity  than  in  other  countries,  we  may 
presume  that  the  bad  and  abnormal  condition  of  marriage  with  us 
has  diminished  its  good  effects.  We  may  claim  with  some  reason  that 
children,  being  the  foundation-stone  of  marriage,  and  the  only  object 
for  its  legal  limitations  in  sexual  matters,  can  not  be  avoided  or 
aborted  without  so  injuring  the  foundation  as  to  reflect  itself  on  both 
the  health  and  happiness  of  the  married.  Thus  we  see  vitality  de- 
crease showing  less  health,  and  divorce  increase  showing  less  happi- 
ness. With  all  its  present  shortcomings,  however,  the  married  state 
still  shows  us  the  healthiest  and  happiest  of  our  population.  In  fact, 
after  the  age  of  thirty-five  there  is  little,  if  any,  health  or  happiness 
outside  of  the  marriage  relation. 

Maudsley,  quoting  from  a  number  of  investigations  on  insanity, 
shows  that  the  percentage  of  insanity  is  higher  amongst  single 
women  than  amongst  the  married.  If  the  childless  wives,  or  those 
with  but  one  or  two  children,  were  taken  from  the  married,  the  fig- 
ures would  doubtless  be  more  striking. 

The  preventive  measures  against  conception  adopted  by  many 
married  persons  are  deemed  by  the  best  doctors  to  be  injurious  to 
both  parties.  Incomplete  intercourse  seems  to  be  the  cause  of  much 
ill-health  in  married  men  who  adopt  this  method  of  limiting  progeny, 
especially  of  nervous  disarrangements,  such  as  nervous  dyspepsia 
and  various  forms  of  paralysis.  Amongst  wives  similar  results  are 
produced,  and  the  abortions  and  miscarriages  which  they  bring  on 
when  they  find  themselves  pregnant  increase  very  materially  the 
death-rate.  It  is  said  that  9,000  women  die  annually  in  America 
from  abortions. 

A  physician  in  good  practice  in  a  summer  resort  informs  me  that 
in  his  practice  the  treatment  of  women  for  the  sequelae  of  miscarriage 
bears  the  ratio  to  conceptions  going  to  term  of  six  to  seven.  Six 
abortions  to  seven  births  is  certainly  a  bad  condition,  especially 
when  we  contemplate  the  large  number  of  miscarriages  that  are 
likely  never  to  come  to  a  physician's  ofiicial  notice.  The  summer 
resort  may  have  offered  a  temptation  to  license  inviting  abortion  for 
escape  from  social  penalties,  or  have  been  specially  sought  for  recov- 
ery after  abortion  elsewhere. 

Were  these  abuses  of  matrimony  excluded  from  the  figures,  the 
balance  of  life  in  favor  of  a  properly  carried  out  marriage  would 
probably  be  startling.  One  thing  may  be  said  here  in  answer  to  the 
idea  of  limiting  at  once  poverty  and  population  by  limiting  children, 
and  that  is  that  the  voluntary  limitation  of  children  has  always  hith- 


lOO  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

erto,  in  all  civilizations  and  societies,  been  by  the  intelligent  and 
well-to-do,  with  a  result  of  the  extermination  of  the  best  class  and 
the  death  of  the  society.     It  has  not  been  by  the  poor  and  needy. 

The  condition  of  marriage  in  the  United  States  is  not  good.  Many 
marriages  are  broken  up  on  frivolous  pretexts,  and  many  others  are 
maintained  in  name  but  not  in  reality.  The  divorces  in  this  country 
have  about  doubled  in  proportion  to  the  population  in  the  last  thirty 
years.  In  the  past  twenty  years  we  have  granted  328,716  divorces. 
In  this  State  (California)  there  is  now  one  divorce  to  7.41  marriage 
licenses.  In  the  city  of  San  Francisco  there  is  one  divorce  in  5.78 
marriages  (Dike). 

This  condition  of  affairs  shows  a  low  and  poor  idea  of  the  grand- 
eur of  marriage,  and  a  large  incapacity  to  realize  its  pre-eminent 
happiness.  It  seems,  therefore,  appropriate  here  to  give  the  causes 
that  make  a  divorce  necessary. 

ist.  Sterility. — Without  children  no  marriage  should  be  main- 
tained. 

2d.  Insanity. — This  demands  seclusion,  prevents  the  pa^^ment  of 
the  conjugal  duty,  and  renders  improbable  the  creation  of  proper 
children. 

3d.  Conviction  for  Felony. — For  same  causes. 

4th.  Habitual  Drunkenness. — For  same  causes. 

5th.  Adultery  of  Wife. — By  this  the  security  of  paternity  of  the 
children — the  main  object  of  marriage — is  destroyed. 

The  demand  for  divorces  on  other  grounds  arises  from  the  gross 
and  ctdpable  ignorance  of  the  people  who  thus  destroy  their  own 
happiness.  Of  the  two  most  urgent  causes  of  divorce,  adultery  of 
the  wife  and  sterility,  one,  sterility,  is  never  pleaded,  and  in  fact  is, 
in  general,  not  a  legal  cause  of  divorce.  Here  is  indeed  a  condition. 
Incompatibility  of  temper  a  good  cause,  and  sterility,  which  pre- 
vents the  realization  of  the  object  of  matrimonj^  no  cause.  ^  Could 
anything  be  more  inconsequent  ? 

Insanity,  as  a  rule,  has  to  be  proven  before  marriage  to  make  it  a 
legal  cause  of  divorce.  And  we  see  further  that  the  adultery  of  the 
wife  is  less  and  less  in  proportion  to  the  other  causes  pleaded  for 
divorces  as  time  carries  us  on. 

Adultery  on  the  part  of  the  husband  is  a  just  cause  of  complaint 
for  the  wife.  Like  polygamy  it  does  not,  however,  destroy  the 
security  of  paternity  of  the  children,  which  is  the  basis  of  all  mar- 
riage. It  is  in  this  respect  essentially  different  from  the  adulter>^ 
of  the  wife.  We  can  therefore  understand  why  adulter}^  of  the 
husband  has  not  been  a  cause  of  divorce  in  numerous  vigorous 
societies  in  which  the  family  was  the  recognized  unit  of  power,  such 


Marriage,  loi 

as  that  of  early  Rome.  Adultery  of  the  husband  in  the  early  history 
of  Rome  appears  to  have  been  a  marked  exception.  In  every  strong 
social  organization  the  family  is  strong.  As  it  is  strong,  the  ideal 
and  aim  of  domestic  life  must  be  high  and  pure ;  as  it  is  high  and 
pure,  so  must  the  life  and  aims  of  the  husband  be  high  and  pure. 
Adultery  or  sexual  intercourse  merely  for  animal  gratification  is 
not  consonant  with  this,  and  cannot  exist  with  it.  The  reason  that 
we  to-day  have  so  much  to  complain  of  in  this  matter  is  the  weaken- 
ing of  the  family,  and  the  gradual  substitution  of  the  individual  for 
the  family  as  the  unit  of  society.  Nothing  is  more  fatal  to  the  ideal  of 
marriage,  than  the  prevalent  prevention  of  conception  and  destruction 
of  foetal  life  amongst  the  married.  Children  once  removed  as  the  aim 
and  object  of  marriage,  this  convention  loses  its  backbone. 
Dignity,  force,  and  reason  are  lost  to  it,  and  marriage  changes 
from  the  staff  and  support  of  society  to  a  reed  that  under  any  pres- 
sure bends  into  fantastic  shapes.  When  the  high  aim  and  the  true 
object  of  marriage  is  lost,  when  the  married  do  not  wish  children  or 
do  not  appreciate  the  children  they  have,  and  lose  or  never  have  a 
realization  of  their  renewed  life  and  material  immortality  in  their 
children,  the  tie  is  weak,  and  marriage  responsibilities  and  limi- 
tations become  burdensome. 

In  this  condition  divorce  will  be  increasingly  sought.  Without 
any  grand  unity  of  aim,  without  any  ideal,  without  any  true  object, 
we  must  expect  to  find  small  things  dominate.  Thus  incompatibility 
of  temper  becomes  a  legal  reason  for  divorce,  and  the  law,  in  one 
frivolous  pretext  or  another,  ofiicially  recognizes  a  precedent  weak- 
ening of  family  life.  The  remedy  is  not  in  restricting  divorce,  but  in 
changing  and  improving  the  appreciation  of  marriage — a  difficult 
thing  indeed.  How  far  society  should  go  in  permitting  divorce  for 
petty  causes,  is  an  open  question.  I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that 
when  the  married  have  a  low  view  of  the  institution  and  wish  to  cut 
the  knot,  they  might  as  well  be  allowed  to  do  so  and  thus  legalize 
what  is  already  an  accomplished  fact.  On  the  other  hand,  society 
has  heretofore  depended  on  the  integrity  and  strength  of  the  family 
for  its  integrity  and  strength,  and  it  is  a  question  how  far  it  can 
afford  to  legalize  destructive  and  deadly  conditions,  even  if  they  are 
accomplished  facts. 

Sexual  indulgence  may  exist  between  persons  of  the  same  sex — 
between  men  and  men,  and  between  women  and  women,  but 
marriage  has  never  been  permitted  between  persons  of  the  same  sex. 
Marriage  is  not  for  sexual  gratification  except  as  an  incident. 

The  century  plant  blooms  but  once.  Its  seeds  are  perfected  in  its 
death.    Many  insects  die  in  the  moment  of  reproduction.    Humanity 


I02  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

has  nothing  so  serious  to  face.  On  the  contrary,  children  make  the 
one  interest  in  old  age,  and  are  always  a  source  of  pleasure  to  persons 
of  normal  feeling.  Children  make  life  worth  living  and  make  it 
longer.  Instead  of  dying  in  our  moment  of  reproduction,  we  step 
into  new  interests,  new  joys,  and  new  hopes.  We  live  anew  and 
multiply  our  highest  hopes,  interests,  and  joys. 

As  a  recapitulation,  we  say  : 

I  St.  That  child-bearing  is  an  absolute  necessity  for  the  continued 
existence  of  a  man,  a  family,  or  a  race. 

2d.  That  marriage — monogamous,  one  wife,  one  husband — has 
been  found  in  the  experience  of  mankind  the  best  to  secure  and  sup- 
port children. 

3d.  That  the  object  and  only  object  of  marriage  is  children. 

4th.  That  this  relation  gives  security  of  paternity  and  insures  the 
aid,  support,  and  defence  of  the  woman  helpless  in  childbirth,  and 
of  the  child  helpless  in  infancy,  by  the  man  thus  knowing  himself 
the  father. 

5th.  That  monogamy  secures  the  strongest  foundation  for  the 
family.  The  family  being  the  foundation  of  the  state,  this  form  of 
marriage  is  an  essential  to  the  best  interests  of  society. 

6th.  That  marriage  without  children  is  nothing.  Marriage  being 
complete  only  with  children,  without  children  necessarily  there  can 
be  no  true  marriage. 

The  conclusion  is  beyond  escape,  that  it  is  a  religious  duty  for 
all  good  members  of  society  to  marry  so  as  to  perpetuate  the  life  of 
themselves  and  of  their  family. 

True  marriage  makes  complete  love  possible.  The  loved  one  is 
like  the  warmth-giving  sun — all  other  lights  are  by  it  extinguished. 
The  single  person  or  childless  one  lives  in  the  night.  The  heavens 
for  such  may  indeed  be  full  of  stars,  but  there  is  for  them  no  life- 
giving,  all-absorbing,  creative  sun.     As  a  poet  has  it — 

*'  The  night  has  a  thousand  eyes, 
The  day  but  one  ; 
Yet  the  light  of  the  whole  world  dies 
With  the  setting  sun. 

"  The  mind  has  a  thousand  eyes, 
The  heart  but  one  ; 
Yet  the  light  of  the  whole  life  dies 
When  love  is  done." 

The  wedding-ring  is  a  fitting  emblem  for  marriage.  The  circle  is 
the  Egyptian  hieroglyph  for  eternity.     The  plain  wedding-ring  is  the 


Marriage,  103 

circle  that  completes,  in  so  many  countries,  the  marriage  contract. 
It  is  marriage,  the  true  marriage  with  children  in  whom  the  life  of 
the  united  ones  continues,  that  presents  to  us  the  best  hope  for 
eternity. 

Marry,  then,  my  children.     Make  it  a  religion  to  have  progeny. 
Be  thus  natural,  be  thus  happy,  be  thus  great,  be  thus  immortal. 

Man  in  his  Love  doth  blossom  and  bloom  ; 

What  beauties  he  has  can  then  be  seen. 
The  height  of  the  heart  appears  in  the  groom  ; 

The  opening  soul  of  the  bride  is  queen. 

The  loves  of  the  flowers  and  the  loves  of  man 
Conquer  cold  Death  in  their  seeds  of  life  ; 

Love  is  the  hand,  with  immortal  span, 
Alone  can  help  us  through  Death's  strife. 

No  flower  with  fertile  seed  can  die, 

No  man  with  living  child  is  dead  ; 
A  body  cold  and  dead  may  lie. 

The  old  must  wither  and  fade  and  shed. 

Dark  and  dread  is  the  night  of  Death, 

The  dead  lie  lost  in  its  dreadful  gloom, 
A  pestilence  floats  in  its  midnight  breath, 

And  Terror's  throne  is  the  endless  tomb. 

Whatever  of  spirit  drifts  away. 

Whatever  of  hope  the  truth  may  hide,~^~ 

The  body  must  go  to  ash  or  decay  ; 

We  know  Death's  shadow  is  at  our  side. 

But  out  of  the  old  a  new  life  grows. 

Love  lifts  life  to  bloom  anew  ; 
We  cannot  die  if  our  child's  life  shows, 

Immortal  life  in  the  child  holds  true. 

What  of  the  flower  that  blooms  so  free  ? 

In  its  day  of  love  it  spreads  its  charm. 
Odor  and  color  combine  on  the  lea 

To  marry  the  flowers  beyond  Death's  harm. 

Out  of  their  charms,  out  of  their  love, 

Comes  the  seed  that  makes  them  live. 
And  so  renewed  from  the  life  above 

The  flower  immortal  life  doth  give. 


I04  The  Conquest  of  Death, 


Out  of  our  loves,  out  of  our  loins, 

Springs  a  life  never  to  die  ; 
We  pay  for  the  new  in  God's  own  coins 

Our  children  carry  our  lives  on  high . 

Silent  and  cold  the  conqueror  conies. 
Dark 
Terrible 
Death. 

Glory  I  breathe  in  my  child  anew, 
Conquering 
Immortal 
Life. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HUSBAND  CHOICE. 

AMONGST  certain  birds  and  animals  the  female  seems  to  have 
some  choice  as  to  its  mate  and  in  many  cases  to  play  an 
important  part  in  this  respect.  We  see  at  the  mating  time 
the  cock,  of  the  pheasant,  of  the  peacock,  of  the  turkey,  like  the 
males  of  many  other  birds,  display  their  feathers  and  finery  to  the 
quieter  females  presumably  to  attract  their  favorable  attention. 

We  may  account  for  the  gay  appearance  of  the  male  and  the 
more  sober  garb  of  the  female  in  tame  birds,  on  the  ground  that  the 
choice  in  mating  seems  to  rest  with  the  female. 

Esthetic  taste  is  widespread  amongst  birds  and  animals  ;  coloring, 
crests,  ornamentation,  delicate  odors,  and  harmonious  sounds  have 
proved  so  attractive  at  the  mating  time  that  in  spite  of  the  dangers 
which  must  attend  the  display  of  these  advantages,  in  drawing  the 
attention  of  predatory  animals,  they  have  been  perpetuated  and  de- 
veloped by  sexual  selection. 

Reptiles,  fishes,  and  insects  also  frequently  have  sexual  ornamen- 
tation of  one  sort  or  another,  and  their  ornamentation  must  be  attended 
by  the  same  dangers  as  in  animals.  In  plants  beautiful  colors  and 
sweet  odors  are  also  for  reproduction,  but  in  them  there  seems  no 
special  danger  in  brilliancy  or  fragrance.  This  choice,  however, 
may  be  often  annulled  by  a  fighting  mate.  Thus  has  female  selection 
favored  the  evolution  of  ornament  in  the  male. 

Darwin  takes  this  view,  but  Wallace,  the  independent  discoverer 
of  evolution  in  the  animal  world,  does  not  admit  that  such  is  the 
case.  His  views  may  be  summarized  by  saying  that  vigor  and 
beauty  go  together,  and  that  it  is  at  once  the  vigor  which  makes  the 
successful  breeder  and  the  beautiful  male.  The  quiet  colors  of  the 
female  bird  may  be  attributed  to  the  necessity  of  protection  by 
obscurity  while  they  are  hatching  out  their  eggs. 

In  the  early  conditions  of  the  races  from  which  our  present  civili- 
zation has  come,  woman  has  had  but  very  little  choice  in  the  selec- 
tion of  her  husband — much  less  than  these  birds.  Perhaps  the  most 
remote  times  of  our  ancestors,  of  which,  however,  we  know  almost 
nothing,  may  have  been  an  exception  to  this  statement.    Certain  con- 

105 


io6  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

ditions  amongst  primitive  tribes  would  lend  at  least  some  color  to 
this  possibility.  However,  during  the  times  upon  which  we  have 
information,  the  woman  has  played  only  a  passive  part  in  mating. 

Amongst  certain  tribes  in  Corea  and  amongst  the  Puttooalies,  it 
is  said  that  the  women  are  the  uglier  of  the  two  sexes.  It  is  even 
ungallantly  denied  in  our  own  country  that  the  female  is  the  better- 
looking  of  the  two,  although  it  is  a  proverbial  privilege  of  the  male 
to  be  ugly.  However  this  may  be,  the  artificial  ornamentation  of 
women  would  indicate  that  if  they  are  not  now  better-looking  than 
men  this  is  the  tendency.  Consequently  they  may  anticipate  a 
greater  influence  in  marriage  selection  than  they  now  enjoy  ;  that  is, 
if  we  take  the  ground  that  the  female  birds  already  referred  to 
really  flock  around  the  males  to  be  chosen  by  them. 

If  this  be  the  correct  explanation,  then  we  may  anticipate  an  in- 
creased power  of  choice  in  the  beautiful  female,  for  around  her  will 
flock  the  men  competing  to  be  chosen. 

Amongst  savages,  barbarians,  and  during  the  greater  portion  of 
civilized  man's  existence,  except  under  polyandry  and  in  a  few  de- 
graded tribes,  a  woman  has  been  husbanded  by  capture,  by  compact 
of  parents,  by  purchase,  or  by  the  purchase  of  the  husband  by  dot 
or  bounty  as  in  modem  France  and  other  European  countries,  and 
not  generally  by  any  choice  of  her  own. 

At  certain  epochs  and  among  certain  classes,  women  have  had 
more  or  less  choice  in  this  matter.  Amongst  the  poor,  natural  selec- 
tion has  had  more  opportunity  to  operate  than  among  the  rich,  which 
may  be  one  reason  for  the  general  incapacity  of  the  rich  to  breed  up. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  universal  care  of  the  ruling  classes,  in  healthy, 
civilized  epochs,  as  to  the  disposition  and  marriage  of  their  women, 
and  the  equal  care  of  their  mothers  by  surviving  families  in  retro- 
gressive times,  may  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  strength  and  advance  on 
the  part  of  the  superior  class. 

Amongst  many  tribes  of  the  industrial  type,  such  as  the  Pueblos 
of  Arizona,  the  women  have  considerable  to  say  in  the  choice  of 
their  husbands.  The  traditions  at  least  of  a  few  militant  societies 
show  a  freedom  of  women  in  this  choice  also.  It  is  doubtless  a  sur- 
vival from  a  previous  industrial  organization,  or  the  story  of  the 
sexual  relations  under  that  type.  The  Arabian  Nights  give  a  num- 
ber of  instances  where  the  women  selected  their  own  lovers  or  hus- 
bands. Amongst  the  Pueblos  the  daughter  is  said  to  mention  her 
fancy  for  some  man  to  her  parents,  who  then  inform  the  parents  of 
the  favored  youth,  and  these  arrange  the  match. 

During  certain  feasts  in  ancient  times,  as  well  as  amongst  still 
existing  tribes,  the  women  had  and  still  have  a  freedom  of  choice,  at 


Husband  Choice.  107 

least  of  lovers.  The  curious  laxity  in  this  matter  during  particular 
celebrations  in  antiquity  is  well  known  to  students.  It  may  not  be 
so  well  known  that  several  tribes  of  our  own  Indians  had  the  same 
custom,  and  in  certain  celebrations  the  girls  of  the  tribes  danced  and 
chose  young  braves  with  whom  they  retired,  but  apparently  with  no 
eventual  marriage. 

In  America  the  woman  now  has  more  chance  to  choose  and  more 
voice  in  making  the  marriage  contract  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
civilized  world.  It  may  be  observed  that  our  civilization  is  also 
more  nearly  industrial  than  any  other.  The  initiation  of  courtship 
is  the  man's,  here  as  elsewhere,  but  a  capable  woman  may,  without 
any  breach  of  modesty  or  manners,  do  much  to  attract  to  her  the 
proper  class  of  men  for  matrimony. 

A  woman  perceiving  a  good  man  may  properly  do  things  in  a 
modest  manner  to  attract  him.  In  this  matter,  however,  a  young 
woman  must  use  great  judgment.  At  times  an  initiative  or  at  least 
a  plain  encouragement  will  be  well  repaid,  while  at  other  times  such 
a  course  might  cool  if  it  did  not  disgust  a  suitor. 

As  a  rule,  a  woman  need  not  fear  to  make  her  preference  plain, 
not,  however,  omitting  a  judicious  spice  of  coquetry.  Widows,  no 
longer  fresh  and  virgin,  and  from  many  points  of  view  less  desirable 
than  maids,  still  have  a  considerable  success  with  men  and  secure 
husbands  oftener  than  their  real  merits  warrant.  We  may  attribute 
this  success  to  the  plain  preferences  they  show  and  to  the  open 
encouragements  they  give. 

It  is  well  here  to  suggest  to  parents  that  it  is  not  good  policy  to 
show  anxiety  or  even  intention  to  secure  a  husband  for  a  daughter. 
It  is,  however,  their  highest  duty  to  give  their  daughter  the  best 
possible  opportunity  to  become  well  mated  in  matrimony.  Parents 
should  on  no  account  neglect  this  matter  of  the  first  importance,  and 
should  see  to  it  that  both  sons  and  daughters  are  made  acquainted 
with  eligible  persons  for  life  partners. 

Woman  has  an  intuitive  perception  as  to  the  character  of  men, 
gained  probably  from  manners,  intonations,  expressions,  and  minor 
acts.  It  is  a  basis  of  diagnosis  which  she  is  unable  to  formulate,  but 
her  results  and  judgments  are  often  accurate.  She  is  in  the  position 
of  the  Philadelphia  rhymer  of  the  last  generation,  who  wrote  of  the 
notorious  Dr.  Fell. 


I  do  not  like  you,  Dr.  Fell, 
The  reason  why  I  cannot  tell, 
But  this  I  know,  and  know  full  well, 
I  do  not  like  you,  Dr.  Fell." 


io8  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

This  faculty  of  judgment  is  of  great  value  to  the  woman.  The 
man  has  less  of  this  intuitive  perception  of  character,  but  his  defi- 
ciencies are  to  some  extent  made  up  by  the  experience  he  gains  in 
the  world.  A  young  woman  should  therefore  never  forget  that  while 
she  is  judging  the  man,  he  is  also  judging  her.  The  man's  method 
of  life  is  reflected  in  his  manners.  His  character,  in  spite  of  the 
most  studious  suppression,  will  show  in  his  indefinable  expressions. 
So  will  a  woman's. 

It  is  perhaps  well  for  a  woman  to  know  that  immorality  to  the 
extent  that  it  is  indulged  in,  even  of  thought,  will  show  in  perceptible 
though  unformulatable  ways.  The  power  of  judging  character  can 
be  developed  by  practice,  and  many  persons  even  make  a  trade  of  it 
in  various  quack  and  charlatan  ways. 

A  woman  should  by  no  means  neglect  close  observation  and  judg- 
ment of  persons.     She  should  also  remember  that  the  keen  man  of 
the  world  mentally  catalogues  women  with  considerable  accuracy, 
sometimes  on  sight,  or  at  any  rate  after  a  short  acquaintance. 
There  are  amongst  women  : 

Those  who  are  regularly  irregular. 
Those  who  are  irregularly  irregular. 

Those  who  have  sinned  once   or   a  few  times  but  have  re- 
formed. 
Those  who  would  sin  if  opportunity  offered. 
Those  who  do  not  wish  to  sin,  but  who  would  be  too  weak 

to  resist  under  circumstances  favorable  to  the  seducer. 
Those  who  could  only  be  seduced  under  exceptional  condi- 
tions. 
Those  who  cannot  be  seduced,  but  may  be  violated. 
Those  who  can  only  be  violated  when  unconscious  or  when 
bound. 
These  classes  of  character  merge  into  each  other.     The  man  does 
not  perhaps  consciously  place  each  woman  he  meets  in  a  class,  but 
if  he  is  interested  in  her  he  adapts  his  manners  and  acts  to  the  class 
to  which  he  has  imconsciously  assigned  her. 

Immoral  and  dissipated  men  are  rarely  mistaken  in  their  opinions 
of  women.  They  know  the  women  who  can  be  improperly  ap- 
proached with  certainty,  those  approachable  with  probability  of 
success,  and  those  who  cannot  be  approached  at  all.  There  are 
some  women  like  common  prostitutes,  who  are  so  stamped  by  their 
sin  that  they  cannot  escape  from  it,  and  are  at  once  recognized  by  the 
most  casual  glance.  There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  women  whom 
one  would  as  soon  suspect  of  being  professional  poisoners  and 
assassins  as  being  guilty  of  immorality.     Their  purity  and  honor  are 


Husband  Choice.  109 

reflected  from  their  souls  into  their  faces,  and  they  can  do  things  with 
impunity  that  would  throw  suspicion  on  even  good  women  but  of 
less  vigorous  virtue. 

The  importance  of  this  is  to  show  the  woman  that,  in  attracting  a 
man  for  a  husband,  her  best  chances  are  in  her  best  behavior,  and 
that  error  or  immorality,  though  the  act  be  never  discovered,  will  in- 
evitably show  in  those  undefined  signs  the  experienced  so  promptly 
recognize.  A  desire  or  disposition  to  looseness  is  perfectly  percepti- 
ble in  a  person. 

The  extremes  of  virtue  and  vice  show  so  clearly  to  even  the  inex- 
perienced, that  a  moment's  thought  will  show  the  girl  that  it  is  also 
possible  for  the  attentive  observer  to  recognize  the  intermediate  stages 
as  well,  and  to  order  her  conduct  accordingly.  So  guarding  her  own 
conduct,  she  may  observe  with  advantage  the  character  of  the  men 
who  approach  her. 

While  flirtation  cannot  be  recommended  to  a  yoimg  maid  ready 
for  marriage,  and  less  probably  in  the  future  than  now,  there  is  a 
cunning  coyness  that  leads  men  on.  Its  success  may  be  due  to  the 
general  but  unsound  estimate  that  the  value  of  a  thing  is  in  propor-* 
tion  to  the  difi&culty  of  its  attainment.  As  humanity  is  now  consti- 
tuted, we  must  not  set  up  too  rational  a  standard,  or  neglect  such 
successful  means  to  an  end  as  the  usages  of  man  make  most  avail- 
able. Every  man  of  merit  has  at  least  a  secret  pleasure  in  being 
considered  a  hero  or  a  genius.  By  finding  his  line  of  thought  and 
his  aims,  and  by  judicious  drawing  out  and  commendation,  a  man's 
interest  is  invariably  awakened,  and  he  is  attracted  by  the  feeling 
that  he  is  appreciated.  Thus  may  a  maid  attach  to  herself  the 
strongest  of  men.  Othello  won  Desdemona  by  his  heroism  and 
strength,  and  Desdemona  won  Othello  by  her  open  admiration  and 
attention. 

The  same  course  followed  after  marriage  will  do  much  to  make 
the  man  forget  defeat  and  failure,  and  persist  to  success.  A  wife 
can  do  much  to  prevent  the  wheat  of  worth  from  being  choked  out 
by  weeds  of  worthlessness  springing  strongest  from  neglect  in  the 
richest  soil. 

There  seem  to  be  in  this  country  two  tendencies  in  marriage : 
one  toward  the  dot  system  in  Europe ;  and  one  toward  a  still  greater 
influence  of  women,  even  perhaps  permitting  to  them  an  initiative  in 
marriage. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  a  woman's  freedom  of  choice  has 
come  to  amount  to  but  little  in  most  cases  at  this  time.  If  she  de- 
sires to  marry  she  will  be  risking  much  not  to  take  the  first  good 
man  who  presents  himself,  otherwise  she  may  be  left  entirely  tmhus- 


no  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

banded.  A  woman,  of  course,  of  superior  attractions,  whether  of 
face,  fortune,  or  fascinating  manner,  can  afford  to  take  considerable 
chances,  but  it  is  not  safe  for  even  these  to  let  a  really  eligible  man 
go.  As  society  is  now  constituted,  a  young  woman  after  eighteen 
years  of  age  should  not  be  foolish  in  holding  off  from  a  fair  offer  in 
marriage. 

The  measure  to  set  for  the  man  is  what  father  will  he  make  for 
the  future  children  of  the  union.  In  this  is  everything.  No  good 
father  can  be  a  bad  husband,  and  no  bad  father  can  be  a  good  hus- 
band.. A  man  to  be  a  good  father  must  have  sufl&cient  vitality  and 
physique  to  give  promise  of  life  to  his  children,  sufficient  force  of 
character  to  endow  them  with  this  quality  of  success,  and  sufficient 
capacity  to  support  the  family  and  to  transmit  such  capacity  to  the 
progeny.  A  man  with  these  qualities  in  apparent  plenty,  but  who 
is  positively  distasteful  to  the  woman,  should  not  be  chosen.  There 
will  doubtless  be  some  obscure  physical  or  mental  apposition  unfavor- 
able to  progeny  indicated  in  such  case  by  natural  instinct. 

Instinct  generally  guides  us  more  in  matters  of  the  physique  or 
of  the  emotions  than  in  intellectual  or  character  traits.  It  is  a 
frank  friend  who  should  not  be  forsworn,  at  least  until  the  reason 
has  gained  a  far  greater  control  of  life  than  now. 

At  the  same  time  the  young  woman  should  not  be  governed  by 
romantic  folly,  and  expect  from  the  instinct  of  reproduction  what  it 
cannot  give.  The  idea  that  a  man  must  be  loved  before  he  is  mar- 
ried, is  good  in  a  sense,  but  its  goodness  depends  on  the  definition  of 
love. 

Ivove  is  a  passion  that  can  only  be  fully  possessed  after  the  fruits 
of  union.  In  its  extreme  but  true  sense  it  has  no  existence,  except 
as  a  flower  of  the  reproductive  instinct.  As  flowers  differ  so  does 
love.  It  may  be  like  the  heavy-odored  bloom  of  the  magnolia  and 
the  daphne,  or  like  the  delicate  perfume  of  the  mignonette  and  violet, 
or  the  fragrance  of  the  jessamine,  or  like  the  cold  splendor  of  the 
soulless  chrysanthemum,  or  it  may  be  like  an  evil-smelling  flower. 

In  fact  the  passion  of  love  may  be  scented  from  the  rose  to  the 
stinkweed,  but  few  maids,  however  much  they  think  so,  have' 
ever  had  its  flower  to  their  noses.  Affection  may  be  accompanied 
by  love,  or  may  not.  I/)ve,  however,  cannot  exist  without  affection. 
In  this  it  differs  from  lust.  Love  is  the  accompaniment  of  the  high- 
est civilization.  Amongst  primitive  people  it  is  practically  un- 
known.    Elsewhere  there  is  some  further  discussion  of  this  passion. 

lyove  is  indeed  a  high  development,  but  its  use  is  not  in  its  abuse. 
Many  young  women,  brought  up  in  ignorance  of  life  and  with  ex- 
travagant notions  of  the  feelings   that  they  ought  to  experience 


Husband  Choice.  1 1 1 

toward  a  man  whom  they  are  to  marry,  lose  chances  of  good  hus- 
bands for  whom  they  have  every  essential  feeling  required  in  the  con- 
tract. More  men  marry  for  love  than  women.  The  nature  of  our 
social  arrangements  would  make  this  a  fact  to  be  as  expected  as  it  is 
necessary. 

The  unnecessariness  of  the  present  supposedly  necessary  roman- 
tic standard  set  up  by  some  is  demonstrated  by  the  very  considerable 
number  of  matches  made  on  that  line  that  fail  in  forming  a  happy 
home ;  whereas  the  French  mariage  de  convenance  averages  de- 
cently in  results,  and  is  often  better  than  our  so-called  love  matches. 
These  two  extremes  are  bad.  The  maid  should  feel  an  affection  and 
afl&nity  for  the  man  she  is  to  marry  ;  but  she  should  not  expect  her- 
self, or  be  expected,  to  feel  the  passion  of  love  in  its  full  power  before 
she  has  had  experience  of  what  it  means. 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  instinct  of  reproduction  which  draws 
the  sexes  together  during  their  period  of  possible  fertility,  and  some- 
times abnormally  before  or  after  this  time,  frequently  takes  a  form  in 
which  the  sexual  function  has  no  recognized  part.  It  is  most  common 
to  see  this  preliminary  passion  either  in  those  ignorant  of  its  practical 
manifestation  or,  strangely  enough,  in  those  passed  the  capacity  of 
securing  the  object  for  which  we  inherit  it — that  is,  the  child.  The 
love  follies  of  the  inexperienced  youth  are  only  equalled  in  the  impo- 
tence or  sterility  of  age. 

This  unknowing  manifestation  of  the  absorbing  desire  in  the 
healthy  for  reproduction,  a  desire  normally  recognized  by  the  indi- 
vidual in  being  driven  toward  one  of  the  opposite  sex  capable  of 
carrying  out  the  grand  creative  act,  has  in  such  case  its  object  en- 
tirely unformulated  in  the  reason.  It  is  in  such  ignorance  that  this 
overmastering  instinct  in  a  sound  life  may  mislead  us  instead  of 
aid  us. 

While  the  pleasures  of  pre-matrimonial  affections  and  attractions, 
commonly  called  love,  should  not  be  denied  a  place  in  the  prelimi- 
naries of  an  engagement  for  a  life  union,  it  is  unwise  and  unjust  not 
to  notify  the  inexperienced  maid  of  the  true  limits  of  such  feeling, 
and  of  the  control  she  must  maintain  over  such  manifestations  for 
her  own  safety.  A  maid,  therefore,  should  resist  the  supremacy  of 
the  passion.  Caresses  between  the  sexes  lead  to  the  more  full  awak- 
ening of  the  physical  passion  of  reproduction,  personal  liberties  often 
follow,  and  these  may  result  in  the  overthrow  of  the  honor  of  the 
maid  as  fixed  not  only  by  the  standard  of  society  but  by  nature 
itself. 

No  man  can  feel  the  same  regard  or  respect  for  a  woman,  in  ad- 
vanced societies,  who  allows  unlawful  liberties,  much  less  for  one 


112  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

who  cedes  her  virginity  except  under  the  solemn  compact  of  mar- 
riage to  secure  herself  and  her  children  a  support  and  protection. 
Kven  if  a  man  continue  and  marry  after  he  has  been  permitted  undue 
liberties,  he  will  not  have  the  same  confidence  in  his  mate  that  he 
would  have  had  if  she  had  resisted  his  improper  importunities. 

In  engagements  and  before  marriage,  all  manifestations  of  love 
should  be  formal  and  limited,  and  a  woman  should  never  subject 
herself  to  the  dangers  and  temptations  of  personal  liberties,  least  of 
all  from  one  in  whom  her  interest  has  beon  matrimonially  awakened. 

It  is  a  lover  loved  who  is  most  dangerous  in  improper  caresses  to 
a  maid.  If  a  man,  it  may  be  said,  lack  respect  in  action  toward  the 
woman  he  intends  to  make  his  wife,  his  idea  of  marriage  must  be 
inferior. 

A  young  woman  should  certainly  recognize  that  pre-matrimonial 
love  must  be  under  control  and  never  be  allowed  full  rein.  She  can- 
not, for  instance,  allow  herself  to  fall  in  love  with  a  man  who  makes 
no  advances  toward  her,  nor  with  a  man  ineligible  from  physical, 
mental,  or  race  inferiority. 

To  show  how  much  education  and  surroundings  have  to  do  with 
one's  power  over  the  sentiment  of  love,  so  foolishly  supposed  by  some 
to  be  beyond  control,  we  have  only  to  look  at  our  Southern  States 
and  at  Brazil.  In  the  first,  education  has  fixed  a  proper  prejudice 
against  the  marriage  of  a  white  with  a  negro  ;  in  Brazil  no  such 
strong  prejudice  exists.  In  the  States  we  see  consequently  no  mixed 
marriages,  while  in  Brazil  they  are  more  the  rule  than  the  exception. 
The  white  races  in  these  two  countries  are  indeed  different,  but  that 
it  is  the  educational  control  which  rules  their  matrimonial  choice 
must  be  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  man  has  often 
satisfied  his  passions  upon  the  negress,  and  has,  when  in  foreign 
lands  and  liberated  from  his  environment  and  educational  prejudices, 
married  and  had  children  by  the  woman  of  nearly  every  known 
inferior  race.  The  Anglo-Saxon,  has,  however,  been  more  conserva- 
tive in  this  respect  than  the  I^atin,  and  his  colonies,  being  generally 
better  bred  in  not  being  mixed  with  inferior  native  races,  are  more 
vigorous  and  progressive  than  those  of  his  rivals. 

So  also  the  every-day  evidence  of  the  effect  of  education  in  keep- 
ing the  classes  of  society  apart  in  matters  of  love  is  an  indication  of 
the  control  our  reproductive  feelings  may  and  ought  to  be  subjected 
to.  Of  course,  sometimes  we  are  faultily  educated  in  this  respect, 
and  may  have  a  class  prejudice  that  experience  has  shown  to  be  use- 
less in  securing  an  improvement  in  mankind.  Such  a  prejudice  is 
that  of  the  females  of  the  noble  families  in  Europe  against  marrying 
one  not  of  their  class.     The  males  of  the  aristocracy  have  recognized 


Husband  Choice. 


113 


that  their  lines  of  breeding  have  not  made  them  mentally,  morally, 
or  physically  superior  to  many  outside  their  pale,  and  consequentlj^ 
whenever  circumstances  seem  favorable,  they  marry  those  not  of 
the  aristocracy. 

This  is  also  true  of  nearly  all  ranks  of  society.  The  men  do  not 
regard  so  strictly  the  often  incorrect  prejudice  that  those  in  other 
classes  are  their  inferiors,  while  the  women  do  observe  these  preju- 
dices. The  men,  for  adventitious  reasons,  such  as  those  where 
fortune  can  be  had,  will,  in  many  cases,  it  is  true,  prostitute  their 
reproductive  powers,  and  marry  women  who  must  produce  inferior 
progeny.  This,  I  believe,  is  largely  because  they  are  ignorant  of 
the  true  grandeur  of  reproduction  and  of  children,  and  of  the  import- 
ance of  securing  a  good  partner  to  carry  out  this  main  object  of  life. 

So  ignorance  among  young  women,  allowing  their  grand  and 
laudable  instinct  for  love  and  its  fruits  an  unwarrantable  license, 
leads  them  to  the  pinnacles  of  folly.  Thus  a  young  woman  may 
consider  that  there  is  but  one  man  in  the  world  for  her  whom  she 
can  truly  love.  Here  is  truth  and  error.  It  is  indeed  a  fact,  that  a 
woman  can  give  her  virgin  body  to  but  one  man  ;  it  is  indeed  probable 
that  the  father  of  her  first  child  so  seals  and  impresses  her  that  his 
likeness  may  again  appear  even  in  subsequent  children  by  another  ; 
but  it  is  error  that  before  union  and  conception  any  one  man  is 
essential  to  a  woman's  happiness.  This  pre-matrimonial love  breaks 
out  in  the  life  of  nearly  every  man  and  woman  of  our  present  stand- 
ing, and  receives  its  direction  according  to  the  education,  surround- 
ings, and  location  of  his  or  her  life. 

A  New  York  girl  will  therefore,  by  the  law  of  average,  marry  a 
New  Yorker  of  her  own  class.  The  same  girl  brought  up  in  San 
Francisco  will  be  equally  likely  to  marry  a  Californian,  or  if  her 
associations  of  society  be  with  a  different  class  from  that  to  which 
she  was  born,  she  will  be  likely  to  marry  a  man  of  that  class. 

At  the  age  of  puberty,  Cupid  drives  the  new-bom  powers  to  use 
in  love.  It  is  often  prejudice  and  association  that  influence  love 
toward,  and  introduce  it  to,  those  eligible  for  partners  in  perpetua- 
ting life. 

The  importance,  therefore,  may  be  seen  of  having  the  education 
sound  and  the  association  of  the  best,  both  for  man  and  maid.  As 
the  great  rewards  of  life  are  largely  found  in  cities,  so  the  strongest 
men  tend  toward  the  cities  to  obtain  them.  A  young  woman  should 
therefore  spend  a  certain  time  in  a  city  or  in  a  place  where  city  people 
will  be  met,  when  of  marriageable  age. 

Another  pinnacle  of  folly  is  when  the  girl,  mistaking  animal  feel- 
ings or  awakened  though  unformulated  desire  for  sexual  union  as 


1 1 4  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

true  and  laudable,  or  at  least  as  irresistible  love,  cedes  to  seduction 
and  is  ruined,  or,  upon  an  inferior  basis  of  looks  alone,  gives  herself 
in  marriage  to  an  inferior  man. 

Men  have  more  experience  of  the  world  than  women,  but  the  very 
means  of  this  experience  introduces  them  to  women  of  lower  classes, 
and  they  often  wed  them,  not  always  wdth  bad  effects.  Women  with 
less  opportunity  have  less  knowledge,  and  the  mesalliances,  judging 
by  divorce  statistics,  are  more  often  on  the  side  of  the  woman.  Carroll 
D.  Wright's  figures  are  for  the  United  States,  between  the  years  of 
1867  and  1886,  as  follows  : 

Divorces  granted  at  request  of  husband  112,639 

"wife  .         216,077 

The  growth  of  love  with  the  improvement  of  man  offers  us  a 
prospect  that  in  the  future,  with  further  improvement,  marriage  will 
depend  more  and  more  on  love — that  is,  upon  the  affinity,  affection, 
and  respect  mutual  between  the  man  and  woman.  When  to  this  are 
added  the  true  idea  of  reproduction  and  the  glorious  hopes  bom  of 
our  renewed  life  in  the  child,  we  may  expect  a  wonderful  improve- 
ment in  marriage  and  a  love  and  joy  in  this  relation  as  yet  but 
dimly  perceived  amongst  the  happiest. 

A  woman  should  expect  to  marry  between  eighteen  and  twenty- 
five.  After  the  latter  age  her  chances  rapidly  diminish,  and,  if 
married,  her  trouble  with  the  first  child  will  be  much  greater  than 
before.  Her  husband  should  be  from  five  to  fifteen  years  her  senior. 
While  these  ages  and  ratios  are  the  best,  a  woman  should  stretch  a 
point  or  two  to  secure  a  good  husband.  With  a  population  that  is 
rapidly  becoming  redimdant  by  immigration,  and  with  an  increasing 
standard  of  life  and  consequently  decreasing  and  later  marriages,  a 
woman  is  not  in  a  position  to  take  many  chances,  nor  should  she  be 
too  precipitate  nor  too  liberal  in  this  vital  matter. 

A  drunkard  or  hard  drinker,  or  the  victim  of  any  dangerous 
habit,  such  as  that  of  opium,  should  not  be  chosen,  mainly  on  account 
of  the  effect  on  the  children.  A  reform  of  action,  unless  prompt, 
cannot  reform  the  constitution,  and  the  degenerating  effect  of  the  in- 
temperance, in  whatever  line,  must  be  reflected  in  the  children  bom 
from  such  a  parent.  Relapse  in  action  must  also  be  deemed  as  ex- 
tremely likely.  Intemperance  in  narcotics  or  stimulants  should 
always  be  deemed  the  result  of  some  previous  weakening  intemper- 
ance in  work  or  idleness,  or  of  a  constitutional  inability  to  meet  the 
struggles  of  life  on  an  equality  with  the  average  of  society. 

In  any  case  it  is  certain  that  abuses  of  whatever  kind  leave 
indelible  injury  on  the  individual  thus  erring.  We  now  know,  for 
instance,  that  alcohol,  when  abused,  leaves  permanent  lesions  in  the 


Husband  Choice.  1 1 5 

liver  and  the  brain  and  that  the  power  of  these  organs  is  diminished. 
Constitutional  disease,  such  as  consumption  or  syphilis,  is  equally 
dangerous  and  often  fatal  to  the  progeny.  Such  unfortunates  should 
therefore  be  barred  from  the  choice.  The  best  means  of  judging  of  a 
man's  fitness  to  bring  forth  children  who  can  maintain  the  contest 
of  life  with  success,  is  the  measure  of  success  attained  by  the  man 
himself.  Other  things  being  equal,  a  woman  should  always  give 
the  preference  to  the  man  who  has  made  his  mark  in  the  world. 

Fortune  in  a  man  is  no  bar  to  matrimony,  but  rather  a  superior 
indication.  This  point,  however,  must  not  be  misunderstood. 
Money  as  a  motive  in  matrimony  is  meretricious.  Its  sole  value  is 
the  indication  of  the  ability  and  energy  of  the  possessor. 

Upon  the  deserts  of  Nubia  the  lioness  has  been  observed  to  He 
and  watch  a  battle  between  two  lions,  and,  when  the  contest  has  been 
decided,  to  go  quietly  away  with  the  victor.  So  a  woman  may  look 
out  upon  her  suitors  and  select  him  who  has  achieved  victory  in 
whatever  line  society  has  set  up  as  most  essential  for  its  collective 
welfare,  or  in  any  line  she  may  deem  of  advantage  to  her  expected 
children. 

It  is  easy  by  observation  to  ascertain  what  qualities  and  condi- 
tions are  best  in  man  for  his  present  condition.  But  it  is  difficult, 
indeed,  to  appreciate  what  qualities  and  conditions  are  necessary  for 
improvement  and  for  the  future. 

In  the  history  of  man  we  see  both  the  physical  form  and  the 
faculties  very  different  in  the  extremes  of  barbarism  and  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  keen,  observant  eye  of  the  Bedouin  is  not  possessed  by 
our  city  citizens  even  when  not  near-sighted. 

The  heavy  jaw  and  full,  large,  sound  teeth  of  the  negro  are  not 
possessed  by  the  average  American.  The  latter  suffers  even  in  the 
smallness  of  his  jaw,  which  crowds  his  teeth  so  much  that  a  consider- 
able number  decay  or  are  pulled  out  to  make  room  for  the  others. 

The  prize-fighter  is  not  the  top  of  our  society,  nor  likely  to  be. 
Keen  sight  and  strong  jaws  might  well  have  appeared  to  ancient 
legislators  as  points  essential  to  be  preserved,  or  even  developed,  for 
the  safety  of  the  race.     We  now,  looking  back,  see  that  they  are  not. 

The  tendency  of  nature  is  ever  to  get  rid  of  the  useless.  So  a 
man  who  exercises  little  soon  finds  his  muscles  diminished  in  size  or 
power,  if  they  have  been  well  developed  before.  So,  also,  many  of 
his  organs  may  diminish  in  activity  and  the  redundant  parts  tend  to 
atrophy.  Some  organs  may  diminish  and  others  not,  and  disorders 
ensue  on  the  attempt  of  nature  to  set  up  a  new  balance.  While  this 
is  going  on  many  individuals  must  perish.  The  difiiculty  of  trusting 
to  the  reason  alone,  in  its  present  benighted  state,  for  our  choice  in 


1 1 6  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

breeding,  must  be  apparent.  The  ugliness  and,  perhaps  in  part,  the 
infertility  of  the  French  are  strong  arguments  against  the  purely 
conventional  marriage. 

A  man  at  thirty  generally  shows  pretty  well  the  stuff  he  is  made 
of,  and  his  capacity  can  be  fairly  gauged.  It  is  better  for  men  to 
marry  younger  than  at  this  age,  but  better  for  the  girl  to  be  able  to 
choose  a  man  whose  character  and  capacity  are  formed  and  knowable. 
This  it  is  difficult  to  do  before  thirty. 

An  important  reason  for  choosing  a  man  five  or  more  years  her 
senior  is  the  fact  that  woman  passes  out  of  the  reproductive  period 
considerably  earlier  than  man.  After  the  climacteric  a  woman  rapidly 
loses  her  sexual  feeling  and  attraction.  If  a  man  be  in  full  possession 
of  desire  and  power,  and  his  wife  be  without  either,  we  must  perceive 
the  dangers  that  overshadow  the  union.  In  America  marriages  have 
been  largely  of  persons  of  nearly  similar  age.  We  can  consequently 
explain  how  it  is  that  in  the  present  decline  of  the  consideration  of 
marriage  we  find  the  men  most  recreant  above  middle  age. 

It  is  an  unpleasant  thing  to  speak  of,  but  then,  why  play  ostrich  ? 
why  shut  our  eyes  to  patent  facts  ? 

Prostitutes  are  supported  by  boys  and  married  men  over  forty. 
It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  wives  of  these  men  have  lost  their 
power  to  attract.  Another  fact  in  the  same  line  is  that,  excepting 
certain  classes,  as  railroad  employees,  soldiers,  sailors,  etc.,  whose 
lives  are  peculiarly  open  to  temptation,  venereal  disease  is  largely 
confined  to  the  very  young  men  and  to  married  men  over  forty. 

It  is  indeed  painful  for  a  pure  woman  to  face  these  facts  of  life, 
but  it  is  better  to  do  so,  and  then  to  be  armed  by  knowledge  against 
placing  temptation  in  the  husband's  way.  This  may  be  done  by 
neglect  of  her  person,  by  refusal  of  the  conjugal  duty,  and  by  marry- 
ing a  man  of  unsuitable  age.  I  cannot  recommend  a  young  woman 
to  refuse  a  good  offer  of  marriage  from  a  man  of  her  own  age — but 
then  she  ought  to  know  that  by  and  by  there  must  come  a  severe 
strain  on  the  husband's  fidelity. 

Very  young  men,  certainly  before  they  are  twenty-one,  should 
not  be  chosen.  Such  a  young  man  cannot  use  the  privileges  of  a 
husband  with  safety  to  himself.  Premature  use  of  the  sexual 
function  has  a  tendency  to  prevent  the  full  physical  and  mental 
development  of  such  as  commit  this  error. 

The  progeny  bom  of  immature  parents  is  generally  considered  as 
inferior,  and  as  life  matures  the  woman  must  find  herself  old  while 
the  husband  is  still  young.  The  inferiority  of  the  progeny  is  of 
course  limited  to  those  first  bom  unless  the  husband's  powers  be 
permanently  injured. 


Husband  Choice,  1 1 7 

Writers  on  these  subjects  seem  to  be  of  one  opinion  on  the  in- 
feriority of  children  born  to  the  immature.  They  consider  that  it  is 
so,  but  I  have  seen  no  conclusive  facts  adduced  to  show  when  man 
or  woman  should  be  considered  immature.  The  first  flowers  and 
fi-uits  of  plants  are  usually  abnormal ;  while  sometimes  superior  to 
the  average  in  size,  they  are  always  inferior  in  texture,  flavor,  etc., 
to  later  fruit  produced  under  equally  favorable  conditions.  Another 
indication  in  the  same  line  is  the  fact  that  short-lived  trees  bear 
sooner  than  long-lived  ones  of  the  same  family.  An  exceedingly 
unfavorable  location  may  also  force  a  tree  to  early  bearing ;  so  will 
sickness,  parasitic  or  predatory  attack,  so  will  the  pruning  of  man, 
and  so  will  budding  or  grafting. 

Everything  injurious  or  likely  to  be  weakening  or  fatal  to  a  plant 
usually  produces  premature  fruiting.  Premature  fruiting  is  there- 
fore a  sign  of  weakness.  Some  of  this  is  caused  designedly  by  man 
to  secure  better  fruit.  Thus  he  buds  the  seedling  orange  tree  to  ob- 
tain the  Navel.  A  superior  selling  fruit  is  produced  at  some  expense 
to  the  life  of  the  tree. 

A  man  or  woman  might  not  regret  shortening  his  or  her  life  to 
secure  better  children,  but  in  this  case  of  the  Navel,  while  the  fruit 
is  developed  to  the  taste  of  man,  it  has,  on  the  other  hand,  quite  lost 
its  power  of  sustaining  the  contest  of  life.  A  Navel  orange  is  seed- 
less and  therefore  depends  for  its  existence  upon  the  attention  of 
man. 

It  is  probable  that  every  variety  of  fruit  perpetuated  by  budding 
or  grafting  would  either  disappear  or  revert  back  to  the  original  at 
the  extinction  of  the  lives  of  the  trees  in  being.  Thus  an  apparent 
superiority  of  product  at  the  expense  of  the  parent  is  shown  to  be  in 
a  true  measure  fallacious. 

Too  young  a  woman  should  avoid  breeding  and  avoid  too  young 
a  mate.  This  suggests  the  idea  that  interest  developing  at  immature 
age  might  be  met  by  engagement  to  marry  and  postponement  till 
maturer  years. 

The  general  rule  should  be  against  this  or  any  engagement  until 
the  contracting  parties  are  ready  to  marry.  Eight  weeks  is  the  limit 
to  allow  for  an  engagement.  The  time  required  for  reasonable  in- 
quiry as  to  the  character  of  the  groom  is  all  that  is  desirable  and  all 
that  should  be  allowed.  The  reasons  for  this  rule  are  discussed 
elsewhere.  The  consideration  of  a  candidate  for  matrimony  through 
the  glass  of  the  future  family  to  be  expected  must  show  more  clearly 
than  by  any  other  means  the  essential  good  points  as  well  as  the  es- 
sential bad  points  of  the  man  as  a  husband. 

A  young  girl  brought  up  to  look  at  matrimony  as  a  means  to 


1 1 8  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

immortality  in  the  progeny,  and  with  a  knowledge  that  her  husband 
must  be  an  equal  force  in  her  possible  immortal  life  in  the  child,  can- 
not, it  seems  to  me,  be  led  into  open  and  apparent  aberration  of 
choice.  She  cannot  be  so  easily  deceived.  For  looking  for  the 
essentials  of  a  good  father  for  her  future  self,  the  usual  means  of  de- 
ception— handsome  looks,  social  standing  as  of  a  dissolute  noble, 
fashionable  dress,  or  profuse  generosity — fade  before  the  grander 
qualities  of  fatherhood — vitality  of  physique,  capacity  of  mind,  and 
force  of  character.  A  young  maid  should  attach  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  the  choice  of  a  husband.  There  is  but  one  thing  more  im- 
portant, which  is  the  bearing  of  the  child  and  the  renewal  of  her 
life. 

In  my  female  as  in  my  male  descendants,  I  will  forgive  every- 
thing but  sterility  and  extinction.  Thus  as  a  partner  of  the  oppo- 
site sex  is  necessary  for  the  continuation  of  life,  a  partner  must  be 
taken,  good  if  possible,  but  as  nothing  can  be  worse  than  extinction 
of  the  vital  spark  by  which  all  hope  and  chance  is  lost,  a  partner  even 
though  imperfect  or  below  what  ought  to  be  desired  must  be  ac- 
cepted. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WIFE  CHOICE. 

THE  first  requisite  of  a  woman  to  be  selected  for  a  wife  is  that 
she  possess  the  physical  capacity  to  bear  children. 

It  is,  of  course,  of  great  importance  that  the  children  born 
should  be  an  improvement  on  the  parents.  This  subject  is  worthy 
of  careful  study.  Amongst  the  works  interesting  on  this  point  are 
those  of  Darwin,  especially  that  on  the  changes  in  animals  and 
plants  under  domestication,  and  the  works  of  Francis  Galton  on 
heredity,  Hutchmson^  s  Pedigree  of  Disease ,  the  works  of  Maudsley, 
etc.  Galton  shows  very  clearly  that  capacity,  zeal,  and  vigor,  the 
three  qualities  which  he  deems  essential  for  greatness,  are  enormous- 
ly more  liable  to  appear  in  the  child  of  an  eminent  person  than  in 
one  of  the  common  average.  If  both  parents  be  superior,  the 
progeny  is  certain  to  be  above  the  average. 

The  male  brains  of  the  lowest  tribes  we  now  know  about,  and 
who  use  the  same  primitive  implements  which  geology  teaches  were 
once  the  only  implements  used  by  early  man,  vary  from  thirty-nine 
to  forty-four  ounces.  In  convolutions  and  structure  these  brains  are 
inferior  to  those  of  our  race. 

Whole  races  of  men  are  much  behind  the  highly  civilized  peoples 
in  development,  especially  in  that  part  of  the  physical  development 
called  nerve  or  brain  quality  and  force.  The  brain  of  the  Andaman 
Islander  or  Bushman  of  Africa  is  simpler  in  convolution  and  less  in 
weight  than  that  of,  say  the  Anglo-Saxon.  The  average  brain 
weight  of  males  in  the  lowest  races  is  in  some  cases,  as  has  been 
said,  under  forty  ounces,  and  the  brain  presents  in  its  anatomy 
an  appearance  similar  to  that  of  one  of  our  idiots.  The  brains  of 
negroes  in  this  country  average  about  forty-four  ounces,  while  the 
Anglo-Saxon  brain  averages  nearly  fifty  ounces. 

If  an  Anglo-Saxon  breed  to  a  negress,  the  lower  race  traits  will 
appear  more  or  less  modified  in  his  children's  forms,  hair,  constitu- 
tions, and  complexions.  It  is  probable  that  the  brain  will  partake 
of  the  lower  qualities  also.  Such  a  man  handicaps  himself  in  his 
children  and  diminishes  their  brain  power  to  an  extent  that  at  the 

'  "9 


I20  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

very  best  will  take  ages  to  re-acquire,  if  happily  they  do  not  perish 
before  this  is  achieved  in  the  struggle  with  stronger  competitors. 
The  same  point  holds  good  in  reference  to  inferior  white  races  or 
families  of  your  own  race.  It  is  important,  therefore,  to  breed  up 
rather  than  down.  The  children  of  eminent  men  should  be  sought 
in  marriage. 

The  superiority  of  the  brain  of  a  white  American  over  a  negro 
American  is  six  ounces.  The  superiority  over  the  brains  of  other 
inferior  races  probably  often  exceeds  ten  ounces.  Here  is  a  difference 
in  brain  capacity  which  it  would  take  long  to  overcome  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances.  All  men  once  used  no  better  imple- 
ments than  the  lowest  savages  now  do,  and  all  men  doubtless  in 
those  early  times  had  no  better  brains  than  these  savages  now  have. 
It  must  have  required  thousands  of  years  to  bring  the  mind  of  civilized 
man  to  its  present  superiority,  to  say  nothing  of  the  probable  dura- 
tion of  the  time  of  the  evolution  of  mankind  itself. 

It  is  consequently  more  important  to  humanity  to  preserve  this 
improved  brain  and  to  continue  to  improve  it  than  to  do  anything 
else.  The  works  of  man  soon  become  of  themselves  useless  and 
antiquated  and  are  of  little  permanent  value.  The  best  brain 
development  can  always  produce  the  best  of  work,  and  work  suited 
to  the  time.  It  is  more  important,  therefore,  to  transmit  a  superior 
brain  endowment  than  to  do  any  work  of  the  brain,  and  better  to 
sacrifice  the  work  rather  than  the  reproduction  of  the  brain.  It  is 
equally  clear  that,  in  breeding  and  reproducing,  care  should  be  taken 
not  to  adulterate  and  lower  the  brain  capacity  of  the  children  to  be 
expected. 

The  importance,  therefore,  of  selecting  wisely  in  marriage  and  of 
securing  the  very  best  partner  possible  for  the  great  work  of  self- 
perpetuation  is  manifest.  The  attention  of  the  more  developed 
men  can  hardly  be  too  often  called  to  these  radical  brain  differences. 

What  careful  breeding  can  do,  we  see  in  many  animals.  In  this 
country,  in  1840,  the  average  weight  of  the  fleece  of  a  sheep  was 
1.85  lbs.,  in  1887  it  had  risen  to  6  lbs.  In  other  countries  careful 
attention  has  still  further  increased  the  yield  of  wool.  In  England 
the  Southdowns  have  been  bred  for  both  fleece  and  meat.  The 
striking  superiority  of  these  sheep,  especially  in  the  latter  case,  is  to 
be  noted. 

When  we  consider  that  the  cranial  capacity  of  the  European  is 
forty  cubic  inches  greater  than  that  of  the  native  Australian,  and  that 
this  is  four  times  greater  than  the  difference  between  the  cranial 
capacity  of  the  Australian  and  the  gorilla,  the  importance  of  careful 
selection  in  breeding  may  be  understood.     As  the  brains  of  our 


Wife  Choice,  121 

babies  resemble  in  their  convolutions  and  comparative  simplicity, 
first  those  of  the  quadrumana  and  then  those  of  the  savage,  we  may- 
surmise  that  we  have  risen  from  this  low  estate  and  may  reasonably 
expect  that  evolution  and  improvement  are  still  at  work  to  carry  some 
of  us  through  our  children  to  heights  impossible  for  us  now  to  con- 
ceive. 

While  these  dififerences  are  striking  enough,  there  is  good  cause 
to  believe  that  in  the  leading  clans  of  humanity  the  difiertfnce  is  still 
greater.  The  average  of  American  brains  of  the  white  race  is  said  to 
be  short  of  50  ounces.  But  this  average  is  taken  from  a  comparatively 
low  stratum  and  the  ruling  class  doubtless  averages  much  more.  Such 
brains  when  occasionally  weighed,  as  was  that  of  Daniel  Webster, 
show  an  extraordinary  excess  of  power  running  up  even  to  over  60 
ounces.  Without  the  brain  with  strength  to  support  the  strain  now 
necessarily  forced  on  it,  we  can  hope  for  nothing.  In  California, 
one  third  of  the  population  is  of  foreign  birth  ;  this  third  furnishes 
two  thirds  of  our  insane.  It  is  thus  indicated  that  the  minds  of  this 
foreign  one  third  are  not  on  the  average  as  capable  of  sustaining  the 
strain  of  our  general  progress  as  are  the  minds  of  the  native  Ameri- 
cans, who  have  made  it.  As  the  negro  and  the  white  do  not  com- 
bine to  make  a  strong  race  nor  in  all  probability  one  that  will  per- 
petuate itself,  so  we  may  expect  that  other  differences  of  less  extent 
between  the  whites  themselves  will  also  be  incapable  of  furnishing  a 
resistant  and  progressive  breed.  (There  seem  at  this  time  no  con- 
clusive indications  that  the  negro  will  not  be  able  in  certain  climatic 
belts  in  America  to  hold  his  own  or  even  to  supplant  the  white.  Of 
this,  however,  it  is  too  soon  to  speak  with  certainty. ) 

In  attempting  to  breed  up,  the  greatest  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
miss  the  true  line  of  progress.  We  cannot  now  say  what  the  sum 
of  qualities  is  that  is  best  for  our  future  improvement.  We  can  see 
the  elephant  stirpass  us  in  physical  power  and  longevity,  and  the 
horse  in  swiftness,  the  bird  possessed  of  the  capacity  of  flight 
through  the  air,  the  fish  with  capacity  to  live  in  the  water,  and  the 
lizard  to  live  for  long  periods  without  any  water.  All  these  have 
powers  we  entirely  lack.  The  tiger  surpasses  us  in  ferocity  and  natural 
weapons,  as  does  the  wasp.  So  also  amongst  men,  we  see  the  aver- 
age male  Zulu  surpass  our  average  in  physical  proportion  and 
strength,  and  many  savages  are  our  superiors  in  the  power  of  sight 
and  of  reading  the  open  book  of  nature. 

Thrown  on  our  natural  resources  in  deserts  like  those  of  the 
Sahara,  of  Australia,  or  of  the  Colorado,  we  should  be  at  a  disad- 
vantage compared  to  the  natives  of  these  districts,  and  would  prob- 
ably perish  where  they  grow  fat.     So  in  brain  development,  we,  as 


122  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

a  people,  are  perhaps  below  the  populations  of  the  old  Greek  cities, 
or  of  the  Italian  republics,  and  we  may  thus  see  that  intellect,  while 
evidently  in  the  main  line  of  superiority  and  progress,  demands  for 
its  perpetuation  both  a  physical  power  to  reproduce  and  the  moral 
qualities  leading  to  its  exercise.  Otherwise  the  superior  brain  power, 
like  that  of  the  Greeks,  must  disappear  as  theirs  did.  Another  thing 
to  recollect  is,  that  qualities  and  conditions  favorable  in  a  high 
degree  to  the  present  activities  of  man  may  be  the  very  ones  that  will 
absorb  his  energy  and  prevent  him  from  following  the  true  but 
unseen  line  of  progress  in  the  future.  Thus  we  may  explain  the 
rise  of  dijBferent  branches  of  our  race  and  their  fall  and  extinction. 
Their  development  was  not  even  and  true.  By  premature  excess  in 
what  will  be  eventually  essential,  or  in  fatal  lack  of  necessary  quali- 
ties for  progress,  or  in  the  development  of  deadly  errors,  civilization 
after  civilization  has  fallen. 

Marriage  without  children  is  nominal  not  real.  In  fact,  a  sterile 
marriage  is  no  marriage  so  far  as  the  fundamental  object  of  marriage 
is  concerned.  The  physical  capacity  to  perform  the  duties  of  wife 
is,  therefore,  an  absolute  essential  in  a  woman  for  your  life  partner. 
Any  condition  of  chronic  disease,  or  any  malformation  that  w^ould 
throw  doubt  upon  this  capacity  in  a  woman,  should  at  once  strike 
her  from  the  list  of  your  possible  choice.  Uterine  diseases  in  woman 
should  be  a  bar  by  reason  of  the  tendency,  in  woman  so  diseased,  to 
sterility.  The  woman  with  broad  pelvis  and  rounded  breast  will 
generally  prove  a  mother  when  made  a  wife.  The  attractive  and 
well  developed  girl  must  be  at  least  handsome  as  a  whole,  for  the 
standard  of  beauty  in  women  is  really  based  on  their  physical  fitness 
to  become  mothers.  A  woman  not  capable  of  being  a  mother,  can- 
not be  a  beautiful  woman.  The  perfection  of  charms,  as  in  the 
Venus  of  Milo,  is,  also,  from  a  physiological  point  of  view,  the  per- 
fection of  physical  capacity  to  perform  the  duties  of  a  mother.  A 
woman  anatomically  correct,  but  with  a  face  unusually  ugly,  should 
in  most  cases  be  avoided.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that  these  traits 
may  be  transmitted  to  your  daughters,  making  their  marriage  diffi- 
cult and  thus  interfering  with  their  future  happiness. 

Women,  on  the  other  hand,  wdth  extraordinary  beauty  of  face, 
skin,  etc. ,  unfortunately,  as  a  rule,  attach  imdue  importance  to  such 
qualities.  They  notice  the  effect  of  their  striking  beauty  in  the 
passing  crowd,  in  society,  and  amongst  acquaintances,  but  ignore 
altogether  the  fact  that  those  they  live  with  forget  about  their  skin- 
deep  beaut3^  It  requires  but  a  short  intimacy  in  famil}^  life  to  sink 
the  beauty  of  the  face,  and  substitute,  for  all  purposes  of  attraction 
or  happiness,  the  beauty  of  heart  and  mind.    Thus  beautiful  women 


Wife   Choice.  123 

in  society,  who  have  flirted  and  tasted  the  delights  of  adoration  in 
the  acquaintance  and  in  the  crowd  without  effort,  are  apt  indeed  to 
consider  themselves  ill-treated  or  neglected  when  the  family  life  a 
wife  must  lead  gives  facial  beauty  so  poor  a  place. 

In  every-day  intercourse,  one's  likes  and  dislikes  are  based  on 
action,  not  on  looks.  Society  belles  forget,  if  they  ever  knew,  this 
fact,  and  expect  devotion  and  attention  from  the  husband,  propor- 
tioned to  that  received  from  flattering  beaux,  all  based  on  looks  and 
rattle  talk.  The  husband  forgets  the  looks,  finds  nothing  else,  and, 
disappointed,  becomes  dull  and  indifferent.  The  passing  swell 
attracted  by  the  beauty  is  all  devotion.  The  wife  contrasts  the 
two,  knows  not  the  cause,  feels  injtired,  then  come  bickerings  and 
unhappiness,  if  not  divorce. 

Next  to  the  physical  quality  is  the  moral  quality.  A  wife  should 
possess  an  unalterable  devotion  to  virtue  so  as  to  give  the  husband 
complete  security  in  the  paternity  of  his  children.  Without  the 
reproductive  power,  sexual  virtue  has  no  cause  to  exist. 

The  human  being  is  greatly  governed  by  circumstances.  Those 
who  are  good  might,  under  different  conditions,  be  bad.  Those  who 
are  bad  might,  tmder  a  more  favorable  fate,  be  good.  What  is  sun- 
shine may  become  shadow,  what  is  shadow  may  become  sunshine. 
All  depends  on  the  situation  of  the  sun  or  of  the  clouds. 

Therefore,  in  selecting  a  wife,  her  training  and  surroundings 
should  be  considered,  for  these  will  without  doubt  have  played  an 
important  part  in  the  formation  of  her  character.  The  woman  for  a 
wife  should  be  a  virgin.  This  bars  widows.  Widows  have  been  in 
the  arms  and  embrace  of  another.  No  thorough  man  can  altogether 
forgive  this.  He  can  never  have  the  same  regard  or  devotion  for  a 
woman  deflowered  by  another,  as  for  a  woman  all  his  own.  He  may 
not  think  of  this  in  the  intoxication  of  passion  before  marriage,  but 
it  will  inevitably  occur  to  him  afterwards.  The  thought  is  an  un- 
pleasant one,  and  the  truer  the  man  the  more  he  will  feel  it.  The 
woman  who  has  been  wived  can  never  have  the  same  modesty,  or 
the  same  true  devotion,  to  a  second  husband  that  she  might  have  had 
to  a  first,  or  that  a  complete  marriage  relation  demands.  The  fine- 
ness of  woman's  nature  is  spoiled  by  promiscuous  intercourse  even  to 
the  extent  of  two  men.  She  is  like  an  apple  ;  an  apple  mouthed  and 
tasted  by  one  may  still  be  mouthed  and  eaten  to  the  core  with  undi- 
minished pleasure  by  him  who  first  did  bite,  but  to  all  others  there 
is  a  rebelling  thought,  often  inexplicable  and  ill-defined,  that  prompts 
them  not  to  touch.  An  apple  partly  eaten,  with  the  tooth-marks  of 
another  mouth,  left  in  a  public  place,  would  be  touched  only  by  those 
in  the  pangs  of  hunger.     The  better  the  person,  the  less  likely  to  eat. 


124  ^^^^   Conquest  of  Death. 

The  simile  fails  in  this  that  in  such  an  apple  some  parts  may  remain 
untouched  ;  not  so  a  deflowered  woman,  every  part  and  portion  to 
her  inmost  life  has  been  chewed  and  slobbered  with. 

Those  who  have  not  thought  on  woman's  and  on  man's  nature, 
and  upon  the  grandeur  and  unity  of  marriage,  failing  to  appreciate 
these  points,  may  marry  widows,  but  they  cannot  escape  the  conse- 
quences. Such  a  marriage  must  be  incomplete.  There  are  other 
reasons  why  widows  should  not  be  married.  A  woman  barren,  or  in 
any  way  defective  as  to  her  reproductive  organs,  should  not  be 
chosen  for  a  wife  ;  therefore,  a  widow  who  has  borne  no  children  to 
her  first  or  to  any  former  husband  should  be  avoided,  as  likely  to 
remain  barren.  On  the  other  hand,  a  woman  who  has  conceived  by 
a  divorced  or  a  dead  husband,  or  by  any  one,  has  received  his  stamp 
or  seal  indelibly  by  that  fact.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation 
that  old  mothers  resemble  and  suggest  the  likeness  of  their  husbands, 
and  that  the  likeness  to  the  father  tends  to  be  most  marked  in  the 
last  children  bom.  The  cause  of  this  is  apparent  when  we  study 
foetal  life.  The  egg  bursts  at  the  menstrual  periods  from  the  ovary 
of  the  female ;  if  the  spermatozoa  of  the  man  find  it,  it  will  be  vital- 
ized and  more  or  less  stamped  by  the  man.  So  the  child  is  a  part  of 
the  woman  and  a  part  of  the  man,  and  always  contains  a  strong  ele- 
ment of  both.  A  child  may  entirely  resemble  its  father  and  still  have 
a  child  like  the  mother,  or  the  likeness  may  come  out  after  several 
generations,  and  vice  versa.  Thus  the  child  in  utero  is  the  man  as 
well  as  the  woman.  When  the  egg  is  fecundated  and  becomes  attached 
to  the  uterus  the  man-father  is  actually  in  the  woman  attached  to 
her.  The  connection  is  complete.  By  the  chorion  and  the  placenta 
the  blood  of  the  mother  enters  the  child,  nourishes  it,  and  passes 
back  to  the  mother.  The  circulation  is  one.  Thus  is  the  blood  of 
the  man  for  nine  months  passing  in  and  out  of  the  woman.  She 
is  stamped  by  the  man's  vitality  in  the  process,  and  after  a  while  she 
may  resemble  him. 

But  what  is  most  important  in  this  connection  is  that  children 
by  a  second  husband  may  resemble  more  or  less  the  first.  What  a 
painful  reminder  of  former  caresses  by  another,  such  a  child  must 
be.  The  first  husband  is  revenged,  and  brands  the  progeny  of  the 
second.  See  Lessons  in  Gynecology  by  Dr.  Wm.  Goodell,  page  376. 
I  have  noted  a  number  of  instances  of  these  resemblances  myself. 
Recently  I  became  acquainted  with  a  family  in  which  the  mother 
had  borne  two  children  by  a  first  husband  and  four  by  the  second. 
The  first  three  children  by  the  second  marriage  resembled  the  first 
father,  and  were  especially  like  the  daughter  by  the  first  husband. 
The  case  was  the  more  clear  from  the  fact  that  the  first  husband  was 


Wife  Choice,  125 

of  Latin  extraction,  had  brown  eyes,  a  peculiarly  fine  complexion, 
and  crinkly  hair,  while  the  mother  and  second  husband  were  Anglo- 
Saxons,  of  light  complexion  and  blue  or  gray  eyes  and  not  curly 
hair.  The  first  three  children  of  the  second  husband  had  brown  eyes, 
crinkly  hair,  and  the  complexion  of  the  first  husband.  The  second 
husband  and  wife  remembered  no  ancestors  of  this  type,  but  their 
family  knowledge  did  not  extend  far  enough  to  eliminate  this  source 
of  error. 

I  am  bound  to  admit  that  this  stamping  by  the  first  sire  is  not 
proven.  Most  of  the  breeders  of  animals  whom  I  have  consulted 
have  failed  to  notice  such  stamping,  and  at  least  one  conscientious 
student,  A.  Weismann,  in  The  Germ-Plasma,  denies  it. 

One  of  the  rules  of  Moses  made  it  the  duty  of  a  man  to  marry  the 
widow  of  a  deceased  brother  and  raise  seed  to  him.  The  sect  of  the 
Sadducees  held  such  a  marriage  by  a  brother  to  be  an  important 
religious  duty. 

In  thinking  on  this  rule  and  reflecting  on  the  frequently  repeated 
admonitions  to  go  forth  and  replenish  the  earth,  on  the  fact  that  the 
old  Hebrew  blessings  were  so  often  for  the  fertility  and  continuance 
in  children  of  the  life  of  the  individual  and  that  the  curses  were  for 
sterility  and  extermination,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  great 
importance  attached  by  the  Jewish  prophets  to  child-bearing  took 
this  now  forgotten  form  to  secure  real  children  to  a  dead  man  from  a 
wife  already  stamped  to  him.  It  must  be  confessed  that  a  careful 
study  of  institutions  gives  fair  presumption  for  a  different  origin 
of  this  rule. 

It  is  doubtless  a  rule  that  a  first  fertilization  stamps  more  or  less 
the  mother,  but  it  must  also  be  said  that  the  first  husband,  though 
present,  may  not  be  visible  in  the  children  of  the  second.  The  stamp 
may  come  out  in  the  grandchildren  when  not  visible  in  the  child, 
but  of  this  I  have  no  recorded  observations.  See  Darwin,  Anhnals 
and  Plants  under  Domestication,  vol.  i.,  chap,  xi ;  Prosper  Lucase, 
Traits  de  V HerSditi  Naturelle,  vol.  ii.,  chap,  xi.,  page  64  ;  Dalton's 
Huniari  Physiology,  chap,  xi.,  page  659,  7th  edition;  also  Flint's 
Physiology,  chapter  on  Reproduction. 

The  treatise  of  Foumier  on  Syphilis  and  Marriage  touches  on  a 
point  which  confirms  the  view  that  the  mother  is  influenced  by  the 
foetus.  Syphilis  manifests  its  first  presence  by  contagion  in  the 
chancre  and  bubo.  The  only  two  exceptions  to  this  are  hereditary 
S3rphilis  and  the  syphilis  of  conception.  The  syphilis  of  conception, 
according  to  Fournier,  is  that  syphilis  found  only  in  women  preg- 
nant or  who  may  have  been  recently  pregnant,  whose  husbands  had 
no  infective  sores,  and  who  themselves  had  neither  chancre  nor  bubo 


126  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

in  the  course  of  the  disease,  but  whose  husbands  had  had  these 
symptoms  of  syphilis.  The  children  born  to  women  thus  affected 
always  have  syphilis.  It  is  well  known  that  a  mother  contracting 
syphilis  may  infect  the  child  in  utero,  but  it  is  not  so  well  known 
that  the  child  in  utero  inheriting  sypMlis  from  the  father  may  infect 
the  mother.  Fournier  is  very  positive  that  this  form  of  infection 
occurs,  and  states  that  the  number  of  cases  observed  is  so  great  that 
all  source  of  error  is  eliminated  in  the  history  of  the  contagion.  The 
father  is  free  from  infectious  sores,  but  has  syphilis  in  his  blood.  He 
impregnates  the  wife  and  the  child  inherits  the  constitutional  taint 
which  is  present  in  utero.  The  mother  without  any  of  the  S3"mptoms 
of  contagion,  universal  in  the  history  of  syphilis,  manifests  the 
secondary  symptoms  as  a  constitutional  taint.  It  is  the  constitution  of 
the  child  in  utero  which  has  stamped  her  constitution.  Without  any 
contagion  from  the  father  she  receives  his  dread  disease  from  the  child 
constitutionally.  The  child  when  bom,  if  alive,  manifests  its  syphilis 
in  the  same  way  by  a  general  order  and  not  by  any  chancre  or  bubo. 

A  number  of  cases  are  now  on  record  in  which  a  healthy  woman 
having  borne  a  syphilitic  child  to  a  syphilitic  father,  and  without 
herself  contracting  the  disease,  afterward  bore  a  syphilitic  child  to  a 
healthy  man.  Two  of  these  cases  were  very  carefully  checked  to 
exclude  error  and  are  fairly  reliable.  From  the  South  come  a  number 
of  cases  reported  by  medical  men,  of  white  or  mulatto  children  borne 
by  negro  women  to  negro  husbands,  the  women  having  borne  children 
previously  to  a  white  man. 

Thus  one  can  perceive  how  influential  is  the  child  before  birth  on 
the  mother,  and  consequently  how  important  a  part  a  man  plays  in 
stamping  for  good  or  for  evil  his  wife.  The  same  fact  in  regard  to 
resemblances  is  known  amongst  breeders  of  the  domestic  animals, 
and  they  will  not  breed  a  mare  to  a  scrub  sire  for  fear  that  his  stamp 
will  again  appear  in  the  progeny  of  better  animals.  The  case  of  the 
Arabian  mare  first  covered  by  a  quagga,  whose  subsequent  colts, 
though  by  well  bred  stallions,  still  showed  the  markings  of  the 
quagga,  is  a  classic  instance.  It  is  said  by  some  breeders  that  a 
mare  put  for  the  first  time  to  a  jack  will  show  mule  characteristics 
in  all  future  colts  though  sired  by  horses.  The  importance  of  good 
breeding  in  horses,  which  we  can  appreciate  when  we  recall  the  fact 
that  the  great  horse  King  Herod  won  ^201,505  sterling  in  prizes 
and  begot  497  winners,  and  that  Eclipse  begot  334  winners,  has 
made  breeders  carefiil,  not  of  their  stallions  that  can  receive  no 
impress,  but  of  the  mares,  whose  breeding  powers  may  be  and 
probably  often  are  ruined  by  impregnation  from  inferior  sires,  and 
the  consequent  stamping  and  sealing  to  his  life  they  thus  received. 


Wife  Choice,  127 

The  plant  louse  is  impregnated  for  forty  generations  (Bonnet)  ; 
the  caterpillar  for  three  or  four  (Bernouilli)  ;  the  bee  for  a  year 
(Riaumur)  ;  the  hen  for  her  whole  brood.  We  may  therefore 
understand  the  importance  of  a  first  fertilization. 

Edward  Home,  in  writing  about  horse-breeding,  relates  the  story 
of  an  Arabian  mare  first  impregnated  by  an  ass,  whose  colts  ever  after, 
though  by  the  finest  stallions,  resembled  the  ass.  Magne  speaks  of 
the  understanding  of  this  matter  by  the  breeders  in  Poitou,  and  the 
precautions  taken  to  guard  against  improper  impregnation.  The 
bitch  is  the  same  ;  the  first  dog  impresses  her  more  than  twenty  that 
may  follow  ;  he  marks  their  offspring  with  a  resemblance  to  himself 
(Stark,  Burdach).  The  domestic  sow  surprised  by  the  wild  boar  re- 
tains his  fierceness  and  bears  to  his  peaceable  successors  bristling 
pigs  (Meckel,  Michelet). 

This  law  which  plainly  devotes  the  female  to  her  first  love,  and 
protests  against  those  which  follow,  appears  to  be  universal  amongst 
the  superior  animals.  Similar  conditions  are  also  noticed  in  the 
vegetable  world.  I  have  noticed  the  curious  fact  that  buds  used  in 
budding  fruit  trees  varied  in  their  fruit,  even  when  originally  coming 
from  the  same  tree.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  that 
the  fertilization  of  the  blossom  impressed,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
wood  growth  near  it.  So  different  parts  of  the  tree  being  differently 
fertilized  in  the  blossom,  might  be  permanently  affected  in  character. 
Thus  the  male  element  would  not  only  stamp  the  character  of  the 
fruit,  but  also,  though  to  a  less  extent,  the  fruit  twig  or  branch, 
leaving  an  impress  that  would  show  on  fruit  differently  fertilized, 
and  on  buds  or  cuttings  made  from  the  branch. 

In  the  orchidacese  the  pollen  is  perfected  and  disappears  before 
the  ovules  can  be  directly  fertilized  by  it.  We  must  in  this  case 
presume  that  the  mother  plant  is  fertilized  and  produces  the  ovule 
afterward.  This  is  suggestive  of  the  fertilization  of  certain  insects 
for  succeeding  generations  by  one  covering.  John  Brown,  M.D., 
has  made  some  interesting  observations  on  the  cross-fertilization  of 
peas.  In  his  cases  not  only  was  the  seed  affected,  but  the  pod  also, 
showing  the  reflex  on  the  female  element. 

You  will  thus  perceive  that  the  first  impregnation  is  a  brand  upon 
the  woman  and  upon  her  future  children,  no  matter  by  whom  sired. 

As  the  certainty  of  paternity  is  the  main  basis  of  marriage,  so  the 
marrying  of  women,  mothers  by  other  men,  is  in  opposition  to  its 
fundamental  principle,  in  that  they  will  really  bear  children  to 
the  first  husband,  though  the  life  flame  of  the  child  is  kindled  by  the 
second. 

Another  point  in  this  connection  which   deserves   study  is  the 


128  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

comparative  frequency  of  the  procreation  of  the  great  bj-  men  from 
second  or  plural  wives,  and  the  rarity  of  such  procreation  of  the  great 
by  women  from  second  or  plural  husbands  (as  in  prostitution  or 
polyandry).  Joseph  Jefferson  and  Cromwell  are  the  only  exceptions 
thus  far  noted.  If,  on  examination,  it  turns  out  that  there  is  a 
marked  weakness  on  the  part  of  women  to  transmit  superiorities 
from  second  husbands,  there  will  be  an  additional  force  to  the 
recommendation  not  to  marry  widows. 

I  do  not  advise  widows  or  divorced  women  to  remain  single.  If 
they  can  find  a  man  ready  to  take  them,  they  themselves  have  no 
dominating  reason  against  accepting  a  second  marriage.  For  a  man, 
however,  the  question,  as  has  been  explained,  is  entirely  of  a  differ- 
ent aspect.  Nearly  every  great  religious  legislator  has  formulated 
rules  discouraging  to  the  marrying  of  widows.  These  barbarous 
rules  included  the  burning  of  women  after  their  husbands'  death,  as 
in  the  suttee  of  India  ;  the  killing  and  burying  of  women  to  accom- 
pany their  husbands,  as  in  Fiji ;  and  their  seclusion  from  general 
life  more  or  less  complete. 

Such  women  as  have  lost  their  maidenhood  out  of  matrimony  are 
still  more  impossible,  for  the  thought  is  inevitable  that  the  virtue 
they  have  failed  to  protect  once  they  may  fail  to  protect  again.  In 
fact,  it  does  not  exist  to  protect. 

The  widow's  former  husband  has  at  least  the  merit  of  being  dead. 
The  divorced  woman's  ex-husband  may  be  alive  to  recall  himself  and 
his  privileges  to  his  successor.  A  wife  who  cannot  keep,  or  will  not  be 
kept  by,  her  husband,  may  well  be  mistrusted  as  a  life  partner.  She 
is  considered  as  dealt  with,  and  condemned  as  a  woman  to  take  to 
wife  in  the  words  spoken  of  widows.  But  lest  there  be  misapprehen- 
sion, the  rule  is  laid  down,  *'Thou  shalt  not  marry  a  divorced 
woman. ' ' 

The  Jews  owe  much  of  their  success  in  maintaining  their  race  to 
the  laws  of  Moses.  One  of  these  in  relation  to  the  marriage  of 
priests  in  the  21st  chapter  of  Leviticus,  verses  13  and  14,  is  as  follows. 

13.  "  And  he  shall  take  a  wife  in  her  virginity." 

14.  **  A  widow  or  a  divorced  woman,  or  profane  or  an  harlot,  these  shall 
he  not  take  ;  but  take  a  virgin  of  his  own  people  to  wife." 

It  may  be  safely  presumed  that  the  promise  of  a  Messiah  to  be 
borne  by  some  Jewish  woman  has  done  much  to  encourage  childbirth 
and  consequently  family  life  in  this  race. 

Many  orthodox  Hebrew  wives  for  ages  have  had  the  secret  and 
exalted  hope  that  some  one  of  them  might  be  glorified  in  bearing  a 
Saviour  for  her  race.     As  long  as  this  belief  held  complete  sway  in 


Wife  Choice,  129 

a  Jewish  woman's  mind,  no  worldly  digression  from  the  great  work 
of  reproduction  could  attract  her.  Perhaps  it  is  on  this  account  that 
Jewish  wives  have  become  proverbial  for  fidelity  and  for  their  atten- 
tion to  home  duties,  for  these  are  incidents  and  characteristics  of 
fertility  in  women. 

In  recent  times  with  the  weakening  of  persecution  and  the  ad- 
vance of  science,  the  Hebrew  race  has  not  the  ancient  fulness  of 
belief  in  the  communion  of  God  and  Moses,  and  the  Jews  now  often 
slight  and  disregard  the  wise  rules  of  the  founder  of  their  historic 
life.     This  change  is  making  rapid  way. 

A  few  years  past  a  Hebrew  prostitute  was  a  curiosity,  in  America 
at  least ;  now  such  misguided  and  irretrievably  ruined  Jewesses  are 
to  be  found  in  every  large  city. 

The  Jewish  yotmg  men  are  said  upon  good  authority  to  be  often 
more  wanton  and  lustful  than  their  other  fellow  sinners  of  different 
race.  These  signs  show  a  weakening  of  the  old  rules  that  have 
preserved  the  Hebrew  race  intact  for  so  many  ages. 

The  unbridled  sensuality  of  the  males  of  a  race  or  nation  has 
always  preceded  the  prostitution  of  their  females.  Such  license  of 
the  males,  at  first  practised  on  captives  or  inferiors,  has  in  the  end 
drawn  their  own  wives  and  daughters  into  the  vortex  of  dishonor, 
and  has  surely  diminished  the  desire  for  child-bearing  amongst 
women.  So  less  children  are  born  and  the  grandeur  of  the  repro- 
ductive instinct  is  debased  to  the  level  of  low  lust. 

Man  cannot  long  worship  in  the  temples  of  Cyprus  without  find- 
ing in  his  own  family  women  the  tastes  of  the  Cyprian. 

With  Corruption,  Without  Children — Such  is  the  result  to  be 
anticipated  within  a  short  period,  if  the  morals  of  man  be  loose.  The 
first  signs  of  a  decay  amongst  the  Jews  are  plainly  in  view.  -Their 
women  no  longer  expect  a  Messiah. 

The  rules  of  many  of  the  foremost  of  the  ancient  peoples  are  now 
known  to  have  been  exceedingly  strict  in  regard  to  both  marriage 
and  family  life.  A  Roman  of  the  senatorial  rank  could  not  marry 
any  inferior  woman.  Their  definition  of  an  inferior  woman  was 
doubtless  defective,  and  included  all  women  of  other  races  no  matter 
how  exalted.  Thus  Antony  could  not  marry  Cleopatra,  Queen  of 
Egypt,  and  was  obliged  to  live  with  her  as  his  mistress  and  not  as 
his  wife.  Caesar  was  in  the  same  situation,  and  his  son  by  her  was 
illegitimate.  The  story  of  Titus  and  Berenice  is  another  illustration 
of  the  rule.  This  Berenice  was  a  granddaughter  of  Herod  the  Great 
of  Judea.  She  was  three  times  married  :  first  very  young  to  Marcus, 
son  of  Alexander  the  Alabarch  ;  second,  to  her  uncle  Herod,  King 
of  Chalcis,  who  left  her  a  widow  at  twenty  ;  and  the  third  time,  to 


130  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

Polemon,  King  of  Cilicia,  whom  she  deserted.  After  the  capture  of 
Jerusalem,  Titus  fell  in  love  with  her  and  would  have  married  her 
had  it  not  been  for  the  Roman  rule,  which  was  strongly  enforced  by 
the  prejudices  of  the  people.  Racine  has  written  a  tragedy  founded 
on  this  story. 

Every  wife  should  have  a  good  moral  character,  the  principal 
element  of  which  should  be  virtue.  After  physique  and  morals  comes 
intellectual  capacity. 

A  man  marrying  should  try  to  improve  his  blood  and  life.  The 
children  being  himself  renewed,  he  should  look  for  their  mother  not 
only  where  physique  is  sound  but  where  the  mind  is  strong  also. 
He  should  not  choose  one  who,  through  imperfect  information  or 
abortion  of  maternal  instinct,  seeks  a  career  inconsistent  with  child- 
bearing,  for  such  tendencies  are  exterminating  and  fatal,  but  he 
should  look  for  a  healthy,  well-developed  brain. 

These  three  are  the  main  points  in  selecting  a  wife — Physique, 
Virtue,  Intellect.  The  secondary  considerations  are  the  social  and 
property  standing  of  the  woman  and  her  age.  A  woman  in  good 
social  position,  when  the  tone  of  society  is  healthy,  must  have  ob- 
served the  many  unwritten  laws  that  govern  it.  These  laws  are  in 
the  line  of  good  breeding  and  virtue,  and  while  somewhat  considered 
in  all  classes,  they  are  only  fully  known  amongst  the  best  and  cau 
therefore  only  be  completely  observed  in  that  stratum. 

A  young  woman  in  full  standing  in  society  ought  to  have  good 
breeding,  at  least  in  outward  semblance.  Every  endeavor  should 
be  made  to  have  the  good  breeding  real  as  well  as  seeming.  This 
gives  a  stamp  to  the  household  and  to  the  children,  and  will  tend  to 
good  manners.  Good  breeding  acquired  in  infancy  will  be  of  great 
advantage  to  the  mature  life  of  the  progeny  thus  influenced.  The 
foundation  of  good  breeding  is  the  heart.  Never  forget  this.  Culti- 
vate good  feeling  and  action  in  harmony  with  it  and  you  have  good 
manners. 

A  young  woman  in  good  social  position  is  there  presumably 
through  the  forceful  actions  of  her  ancestors,  and  is  therefore  likely 
to  inherit  such  qualities,  and  consequently  to  transmit  them  to  your 
children.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  re- 
moval of  the  necessity  of  productive  work  which  success  brings,, 
causes  a  cessation  of  such  work  in  almost  all  cases.  The  qualities  that 
brought  success,  no  longer  used,  retrograde  and  eventually  disappear. 

Thus  men  rise,  transmit  their  powers  to  their  children  (them- 
selves renewed).  These,  lacking  the  motive  and  necessity,  neglect 
to  use  the  inherited  powers,  which  consequently  fail,  and  in  a  gene- 
ration or  two  sink  often  below  the  general  average. 


Wife  Choice,  131 

The  fish  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  have  no  use  for  eyes.  The  non- 
use  of  the  eyes  has  produced  a  loss  of  function,  and  we  find  now  in 
these  fish  only  rudimentary  eyes  which  see  nothing.  Rudimentary 
organs  abound  everywhere  in  animal  life,  not  excepting  humanity. 
Such  organs  have  come  to  this  condition  through  non-use. 

The  appendix  vermiformis,  a  part  of  man's  intestine,  is  now  not 
only  useless,  but  occasionally  causes  trouble  and  even  death.  Its 
function  in  the  marsupials,  where  it  is  large  and  developed,  is  to 
digest  crude  vegetable  food.  Man  no  longer  eats  such  food,  and 
consequently  has  no  use  for  this  part  of  the  intestines.  Non-use  has 
destroyed  it. 

A  man  who  breaks  his  arm  has  to  wear  it  in  a  sling  after  it  is  set, 
until  the  bone  knits  again.  In  the  meantime  no  use  of  it  is  possible. 
In  every  such  case  a  progressive  atrophy  of  the  muscles  will  be 
noticed,  and  the  power  of  the  arm  will  be  much  less  when  the  arm 
is  taken  from  the  sling  than  when  it  was  put  in ;  frequently  the  old 
power  is  never  regained. 

So  special  capacity  is  bom  in  families,  dwindles  through  non-use, 
and  disappears.  Life  runs  in  a  circle  in  which  no  man  or  family  has 
been  able  to  gain  permanent  ascendancy.  Some,  ay,  whole  tribes 
are  trampled  out  of  existence  and  exterminated,  but  the  advance  of 
man  is  by  average  of  the  whole  and  leavening  of  all.  Each  rise  is 
higher,  each  fall  less  deep ;  so  while  no  family  knows  thus  far  a 
permanent  conquest  of  all  other  families,  society  at  large  advances, 
destroying  only  the  sterile  who  destroy  themselves,  and  leaving 
stranded  and  stationary  some  few  far  off  stragglers  too  weak  to  make 
the  fight  of  life  and  progress.  Two  principles  are  here  in  conflict : 
inheritance  of  property,  which  gives  the  impulse  to  those  great 
works  enjoyable  in  our  own  life,  projected  to  the  future  in  our  chil- 
dren.    This  gives  motive  for  great  work. 

The  other  principle  is  this  :  capacity  of  body  and  of  brain  depends 
on  use.  Use  in  the  long  run  depends  on  compulsion.  Work  is  the 
child  of  necessity.  But  to  work  for  yourself  living  in  the  child, 
grandchild,  and  descendant  demands  inheritance.  Inheritance  of 
property  involves  a  diminution  of  the  necessity  for  productive  labor 
in  the  inheritor.  The  labor  must  be  expected  to  decrease  as  the 
necessity  for  it  is  removed.  With  diminished  work  is  diminished 
use  of  faculty.  As  the  faculties  are  unused  they  cease  to  grow,  then 
decay. 

Thus  the  family  that  rises  by  capacity  to  wealth  and  power,  with 
inheritance  rises  no  more,  for  it  works  less  ;  working  principally  from 
habit,  necessity  being  absent,  losing  soon  the  habit,  work  ceases. 
The  capacity,  at  first  rusty,  is  now  rotten,  and  the  family  sinks  back 


132  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

to  obscurity,  if  it  happily  does  not  disappear,  exterminated  by  the 
children  of  idleness,  vice,  and  disease. 

The  grandest  motive  for  the  greatest  work  is  the  effect  of  such 
work  in  shaping  the  human  life  toward  improvement,  an  improve- 
ment that  will  tend  to  be  repeated  in  the  worker's  children.  If  his 
children  can  be  moulded  to  improvement  by  great  thoughts  and 
grand  acts,  a  man  has  an  unquenchable  motive  for  the  best  use  of  all 
his  faculties.     A  woman  equally. 

Weismann,  indeed,  denies  such  influence.  His  experiment  on 
five  generations  of  white  mice,  901  individuals,  when  he  cut  the  tails 
off  without  any  sign  of  tail  disappearance  showing  in  the  young,  is 
striking.  The  Jews,  too,  are  an  illustration,  for  they  have  circum- 
cised for  ages  without  any  congenital  loss  of  the  foreskin.  It  appears 
from  this  that  some  mutilations  are  not  inheritable.  On  the  other 
hand,  numerous  investigations  of  nerve  mutilation  show  such  to  be 
certainly  transmitted.  Brown-Sequard  has  published  some  recent 
experiments  in  this  line.  Nerve  diseases,  as  insanity,  epilepsy, 
ataxia,  chorea,  show  a  strong  tendency  to  hereditary  transmission. 
Pfitgun  finds  the  two  end  joints  of  the  little  toe  are  becoming  fused, 
41.5  per  cent,  in  women,  and  31  per  cent,  in  men.  The  musculus 
stemalis,  a  new  muscle  or  useful  reversion  to  a  very  old  one,  is  of 
advantage  in  the  recently  acquired  costal  breathing  •  of  women,  and 
is  most  often  found  in  that  sex.  Dr.  A.  I^ane  has  demonstrated  not 
only  modifications  of  structure  in  shoemakers  and  tailors,  but  also 
the  creation  of  new  structures  of  use  in  their  special  occupation. 
There  is  a  tendency  to  inherit  these  peculiar  adaptations,  for  several 
cases  of  children  of  shoemakers  of  two  generations  show  the  new 
type  before  going  to  work.  A  thousand  such  details  would  prove 
nothing.  But  the  weight  of  testimony  and  a  reasonable  interpreta- 
tion of  the  changes  we  note  in  animals  make  it  probable  that  these 
changes  have  arisen  largely  through  use  of  function,  and  the  con- 
sequent progressive  adaptation  of  the  form  of  life  to  the  function 
necessary  for  its  maintenance  and  transmission. 

Perhaps  nothing  we  now  know  could  lend  more  strength  to  this 
view  than  the  German  figures  showing  65  per  cent,  of  all  cases  of 
near-sightedness  to  be  hereditary.  Myopia  is  primarily  due  to  a 
changed  function  and  strain  on  the  eye.  It  would  not  seem  possible 
that  the  eye  could  be  the  only  organ  affected  in  descendants  by  a 
change  of  function. 

Carrying  out  these  rules  and  thus  keeping  sound  on  the  question 
of  reproduction  and  so  escaping  extermination,  it  may  be  for  you  to 
reconcile  these  two  principles.  When  you  solve  the  problem,  the 
earth  is  yours. 


Wife  Choice.  133 

Zeal,  that  quality  which  drives  to  effort,  whether  it  be  recom- 
pensed or  not,  whether  it  be  necessary  or  not,  is  almost  always  found 
in  the  great.  Zeal  may  then  be  our  road  out  of  this  dilemma.  It  is 
indeed  a  quality  we  should  seek  in  breeding.  Therefore,  while 
capacity,  force,  vitality,  and  intellect  should  first  be  sought  in  the 
children  of  the  successful,  the  other  considerations  mentioned  will 
make  it  often  best  to  seek  a  wife  amongst  those  rising  and  conse- 
quently developing  their  faculties,  rather  than  amongst  those  risen 
and  leaving  their  capacities  in  disuse  to  be  eaten  to  the  heart  by  rust, 
and  therefore  going  backward  or  into  extermination. 

There  is,  however,  another  cause  for  the  return  to  the  general 
standard  of  the  children  of  those  above  it  that  has  been  demonstrated 
by  Galton  in  his  Natural  Inheritance,  This  is  the  law  of  Regression. 
He  shows  that  in  every  society  there  is  a  certain  average  as  to  various 
characteristics,  which  we  may  presume  to  be  the  best  suited  to  the 
conditions  in  which  the  society  lives.  Any  variation  from  this 
standard  has  a  constant  and  calculatable  tendency  to  revert  to  the 
standard.  His  demonstrations  are  in  inherited  heights  and  inherited 
color  of  the  eyes.  In  height  he  transmutes  the  female  to  the  male, 
on  the  basis  of  the  female  height  bearing  the  ratio  to  that  of  the  male 
of  100  to  108,  which  a  great  mass  of  measurements  shows  to  be 
substantially  correct.  He  then  strikes  an  average  between  the 
height  of  the  father  and  of  the  mother  transmuted,  which  he  calls  the 
mid-parent  height.  If  the  height  of  the  mid-parent  be  above  or 
below  the  standard  of  the  society  examined,  there  is  a  constant 
tendency  in  the  children  to  regression  to  that  standard.  The 
average  of  these  will  be  one  third  less  removed  from  the  standard  of 
the  society  than  was  that  of  the  parents.  Thus  the  parents  transmit 
two  thirds  of  their  united  and  average  variation. 

The  coloring  of  the  eyes  follows  the  same  rule,  and  so  also  does 
that  of  artistic  temperament.  We  may  presume  that  the  law  holds 
good  in  all  human  qualities,  and  thus  is  partly  explained  the  facts 
of  observation,  that  the  children  of  eminent  parents  are  not  so 
talented  or  so  much  above  the  average  as  were  the  parents,  and 
consequently  there  is  another  levelling  law  at  work  besides  the 
atrophy  and  disappearance  of  organs  or  qualities  that  are  not 
used. 

Galton  further  shows  that  some  inherited  qualities  from  father 
and  mother  are  blended  in  the  child  ;  one  such  is  height :  while  on 
the  other  hand,  some  are  not  likely  to  be  blended  but  tend  to  be 
inherited  in  their  entirety  from  one  or  the  other  parent ;  one  such  is 
the  color  of  the  eyes.  The  child  of  a  blue-eyed  mother  and  of  a 
black-eyed  father  is  likely  to  have  either  blue  eyes  or  black  eyes, 


1 34  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

thus  inheriting  the  color  altogether  from  the  father  or  altogether 
from  the  mother  or  perhaps  from  some  ancestor. 

The  height  of  the  child,  however,  may  be  the  exact  average  of 
the  two  parents.  Other  qualities  or  characteristics  doubtless  follow 
the  same  opposition.  Other  curious  matters  are  brought  out  in 
Gal  ton's  investigations  which  show  another  and  different  law  to  be 
at  work  in  the  opposite  direction. 

A  peculiarity  in  a  man  involves  the  expectation  of  finding  one 
third  of  that  peculiarity  in  his  mid-parent.  The  amount  of  influence 
in  inheritance  of  the  mid-parent  pure  and  simple  on  the  progeny  is 
figured  to  be  close  to  one  half,  of  each  separate  parent  therefore  one 
quarter,  of  the  mid-grandparent  one  quarter,  and  of  each  grand- 
parent one  sixteenth  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  average  of  a  family  of  six  or 
more  will  follow  this  rule,  and  upon  the  average  every  person  owes 
one  half  his  qualities  and  characteristics  directly  to  his  parents, 
and  the  other  half  to  remote  influences  of  ancestors  working  through 
the  parents. 

Galton  also  explains  by  his  examinations  that  a  peculiar  or 
eminent  person  is  more  likely  to  arise  from  the  great  mass  of  average 
people  than  from  the  few  above  the  average,  although  each  one  of  the 
few  above  the  average  has  a  vastly  greater  chance  of  producing  an 
eminent  person  than  any  one  of  the  common  average.  He  uses  the 
following  language  to  prevent  any  one  from  placing  too  little 
importance  on  inheritance. 

"The  other  subject  to  be  alluded  to  is  the  fundamental  distinction  that  may 
exist  between  two  couples  whose  personal  faculties  are  naturally  alike.  If  one 
of  the  couples  consist  of  two  gifted  members  of  a  poor  stock  and  the  other  of 
two  ordinary  members  of  a  gifted  stock,  the  difference  between  them  will 
betray  itself  in  their  offspring.  The  children  of  the  former  will  tend  to  regress, 
those  of  the  latter  will  not.  The  value  of  a  good  stock  to  the  well-being  of 
future  generations  is  therefore  obvious." 

When  the  first  primitive  life  appeared  in  the  world,  it  may  be 
presumed  that  the  conditions  were  suitable  only  to  the  most  primitive 
forms;  all  deviations  toward  higher  forms  must  then  have  been 
exterminating  and  the  law  of  regression  must  have  had  full  sway. 
As  the  conditions  improved,  the  law  of  adaptation  to  surroundings 
doubtless  added  its  force  to  the  law  of  variation  and  so  the  two  over- 
came the  law  of  regression.  Thus  each  new  condition  encouraged 
and  developed  a  life  suited  to  it. 

The  various  fields  of  life  once  occupied,  any  variation  from  the 
standard  of  those  occupying  one  field  to  that  of  those  in  another  must 
be  fatal,  for  any  adaptation  would  in  its  various  transitory  stages  be 
met  by  a  body  of  beings  whose  standard  was  already  perfectly  suited 


Wife   Choice.  135 

to  the  conditions  of  life  in  question.  This  handicap  would  be  too 
^reat  to  be  overcome. 

We  can  thus  understand  the  unchanging  character  of  present 
orders  and  species  of  life,  and  must  expect  it  to  continue  except  as  to 
the  ending  of  lower  forms  of  life  in  occasional  extermination  through 
unsuitable  surroundings  supervening,  and  in  the  highest  form,  man, 
in  progress  adapting  him  to  advances  made  possible  through  natural 
changes  of  condition  either  direct  or  caused  by  man  himself.  In 
such  progress  man  has  no  superior  type  to  compass  his  defeat. 

In  evolution,  therefore,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  change  in  lile 
characteristics  can  only  come  where  changed  conditions  offer  the 
chance.  Changes  causing  extermination  have  already  come,  ending 
forever  many  forms  of  life.  These  or  other  changes  have,  however, 
continued  to  occur,  which  have  made  openings  for  new  improvements 
of  life  at  the  top,  and  have  even  caused  reversions  of  high  forms  to 
suit  low  opportunities.  These  changes  are  now  going  on.  Some  are 
natural  and  slow  beyond  appreciation,  such  as  the  cooling  of  the 
earth,  and  some  are  caused  by  man  and  make  new  conditions  to 
which  he  must  adapt  himself. 

Steam  and  electricity  have  made  life  more  rapid  and  more  trying. 
"Thus  a  being  with  greater  nerve  power  than  the  average  of  past 
civilized  man  is  best  suited  to  our  present  conditions.  We  see  this 
plainly  in  the  proportionately  more  rapid  increase  of  insane,  idiots, 
suicides,  inebriates,  etc. ,  than  the  increase  of  the  population,  would 
warrant.  Consequently,  the  conditions  of  life  must  be  more 
severe  on  the  nerves  than  they  were.  The  conditions  of  life  are 
changing.  This  is  a  matter  which  requires  constant  attention  on  the 
part  of  the  family  founder,  and  it  makes  an  acquaintance  at  least 
with  the  excitements  and  trials  of  city  life  an  essential  to  the  develop- 
ment of  nerve  power  to  keep  one  in  the  current  of  progress.  (See 
Chapter  v.,  ''The  Child.") 

We  can  perceive  also  from  these  considerations  the  necessity  of 
the  cultivation  of  the  feelings  of  humanity.  We  must  have  a  society 
suited  to  our  growth.  A  selfish  individualism  alone  is  not  enough. 
A  sound  family  is  not  enough. 

Progress  demands  a  favorable  environment,  which  the  individual 
cannot  create.  Conditions  compatible  with  a  higher  evolution  must 
be  the  outcome  of  a  social  organization  and  must  be  supported  by  it. 
Narrow  selfishness,  then,  may  as  well  be  discarded  at  once  and  for 
ever.  It  is  a  no-thoroughfare.  A  general  and  intelligent  humanity 
in  action  is  a  necessity  for  progress.  It  is  a  hopeful  symptom  to  note 
the  gradual  growth  and  spread  through  the  ages  of  a  humanitarian 
sympathy. 


136  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

We  must  not  be  extreme  in  this,  certainly  not  to  the  extent  of  the 
danger  of  self-extermination  in  sterility.  In  such  aberration,  the 
individual  would  lose  himself  and  the  true  objects  of  humani- 
tarianism. 

Eminence  in  goodness  or  ability,  as  in  the  Ancian  family  of  Rome, 
eminence  in  badness  or  incapacity,  as  in  the  Juke  family  of  New 
York,  are  often  long-continued  in  families,  and,  by  proper  breeding, 
the  good  could  be  as  certainly  maintained  and  improved  as  are  the 
qualities  of  animals. 

Great  attention  has  been  devoted  by  man  to  the  development  of 
certain  qualities  he  desired  in  animals,  so  we  see  peculiar  breeds  of 
hogs,  horses,  cattle,  dogs,  pigeons,  poultry,  and  even  of  insects.  He 
has  submitted  vegetable  life  to  his  desires  also.  A  thoroughbred  in 
any  line  is  as  certain  of  being  superior  in  its  specialty  over  an 
ordinary-bred  animal,  as  in  the  speed  and  endurance  of  the  race- 
horse, as  the  day  is  to  follow  the  night.  Man  himself,  however, 
still  breeds  with  reasonable  recognition  of  the  true  qualities  of 
improvement  and  success  in  his  race.  We  can  get  a  thoroughbred 
man  as  certainly  as  we  have  obtained  a  thoroughbred  horse.  The 
difficulty  under  which  we  must  labor  in  such  an  effort  is  the  probable 
necessity  of  changing  from  time  to  time  the  qualities  for  which  we 
breed,  to  secure  progress  and  permanent  superiority.  In  glancing 
back  through  history,  we  find  the  standards  best  suited  to  success 
and  superiority  to  have  often  changed.  At  one  time  we  find  an 
industrial  type  the  niost  necessary  and  the  most  promising  ;  at 
another,  the  military  and  the  fighting,  with  the  industrial  degraded 
and  enslaved.  So  wealth  and  glory,  physique  and  intellect,  have 
alternately,  with  minor  matters,  been  suited  to  bring  and  keep  man 
at  the  top. 

Mind  and  intellect  may  safely  be  supposed  to  be  the  eventual  road 
to  the  promised  land  of  a  self-sustaining  race.  As  has  been  already 
said,  all  we  want  of  the  physique  is  to  carry  the  mind  with  the  now 
necessary  powers  of  reproduction. 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  great  difierences  in  life-forms  are 
incapable  of  reproducing  life.  Where  the  difierences  are  less,  we 
may  obtain  progeny,  but  a  progeny  incapable  of  self-perpetuation,  as 
in  the  mule.  Others,  again,  are  doubtless  still  nearer  in  type,  who 
breed,  and  whose  progeny  breed,  but  whose  thus  mixed  life  must 
eventually  run  out. 

It  is  said  that  marriages  between  Jews  and  Americans  are  more 
often  infertile  than  those  between  Jews  and  Jews  or  Americans  and 
Americans.  Here  is  a  condition  that  if  true  demands  careful  atten- 
tion in  marriage. 


Wife  Choice,  137 

Cross  fertilization  in  fruits  often  produces  surprising  perfection  of 
quality,  together  also  with  a  lack  or  total  absence  of  fertility. 

In  the  same  species,  however,  varieties  combined  in  breeding  give 
a  greater  plasticity  and  capacity  for  change  than  we  see  in  members 
of  the  same  variety.  Darwin  speaks  of  cross  fertilization  as  being 
productive  of  the  most  vigorous  plants.  Fritz  MuUer  shows  that,  in 
at  least  some  flowers,  the  different  parts,  male  and  female,  in  the 
same  blossom  do  not  fertilize  each  other.  The  male  element  must  be 
carried  to  another  flower.  This  would  indicate  that  in  such  plants 
qualities  preventing  close  or  continued  in-breeding  have  been  most 
favorable  to  life. 

The  most  beautiful  of  California  flowers  {Romneya  Coulteri),  sl 
poppy,  is  said  to  have  few  fertile  seeds  when  planted  alone,  but  to 
have  a  large  seed  vitality  when  planted  in  masses.  This  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  many  California  wild  flowers,  which,  when  found  in  vigor, 
grow  naturally  in  beds  and  masses,  and  so  form  striking  features  in 
such  spring  landscapes  as  are  not  conquered  to  the  plow. 

Consequently,  when  we  are  in  face  of  changing  conditions  as  we 
are  to-day,  and  probably  always  will  be,  we  may  with  advantage 
make  excursions  out  of  an  established  breed  of  men  to  secure  change 
and  adaptation  to  advances.  At  the  same  time  we  must  be  careful 
not  to  go  too  far  lest  we  run  up  against  the  dead  wall  of  sterility.  It 
may  occasionally  be  necessary  to  sacrifice  some  points  of  breeding 
to  secure  reproductive  power.  This  power  is  often  weak  in  the 
well  bred  of  animals,  and  probably  will  be  equally  so  in  well-bred 
men. 

An  incident  of  success  in  our  present  life  is  usually  wealth.  A 
wealthy  woman  seldom  makes  a  good  wife,  and  still  more  rarely  is 
she  happy  as  a  wife  or  does  she  make  a  happy  husband  or  family. 

Women  of  wealthy  families,  who  have  maintained  good  qualities 
through  several  generations  are  not  so  much  to  be  feared  on  account 
of  their  wealth  as  those  of  families  who  have  come  suddenly 
into  riches.  One  class  of  rich  women,  heiresses  and  co-heiresses, 
should  be  altogether  excluded.  The  tendency  in  such  women  to 
sterility  is  strong.  Perhaps  the  best  place  to  find  this  tendency  tabu- 
lated, and  to  thus  learn  what  it  amounts  to,  is  in  Galton' s //eredifary 
Genius,  page  138.  He  there  shows  the  tendency  of  able  men  elevated 
to  the  English  peerage  to  marry  heiresses  to  support  their  new 
dignity.  He  goes  on  to  demonstrate  that  the  extinction  of  peerages 
so  often  noted  is  principally  due  to  the  marrying  of  heiresses.  These 
women  are  often  entirely  sterile,  or  have  children  without  procreative 
vigor,  or  leave  children  without  vitality.  Gal  ton's  researches  are 
very  conclusive  against  heiresses  as  perpetuators  of  life. 


138  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

By  heiress  Galton  means  an  only  daughter  with  wealth ;  by  co- 
heiress, one  of  two  children. 

A  wealthy  woman  should  generally  be  avoided.  If  a  woman  is 
found  in  a  wealth}^  family  fitted  for  a  wife  in  other  things,  she  should 
either  be  taken  on  condition  that  she  bring  none  of  her  wealth  into 
your  family,  or  that  the  wealth  be  made  over  to  the  husband  abso- 
lutely on  the  wedding  day.  The  first  method  i's  best,  both  in  leaving 
the  husband's  motives  unimpeached  and  also  in  leaving  the  motives 
for  effort  in  him  unweakened. 

Few  wealthy  women  have  healthy  bodies,  morals,  or  minds. 
Idleness  is  their  destruction  ;  therefore  wealth  is  of  all  things  the 
most  fatal  to  families  in  happiness  and  the  most  effective  extermi- 
nating agent  unless  some  other  strong  motive,  as  the  desire  of  noble 
or  royal  families  to  perpetuate  themselves,  overcomes  these  tendencies 
by  early  training  and  constant  effort. 

It  will  doubtless  occur  to  many  that  to  turn  all  her  property  over 
to  the  husband  is  a  great  sacrifice  and  risk  for  the  woman  to  take. 
But  these  should  remember  that  the  greatest  risk  of  life  is  marriage. 
In  taking  this  step  a  woman  stakes  her  happiness,  honor,  and  im- 
mortality. These  are  her  all.  Such  a  trivial  incident  of  life  as 
wealth  cannot  be  considered  in  comparison  to  them.  If,  therefore, 
upon  an  examination  women  controlling  wealth  after  marriage  are 
not  found  to  be  happy  and  do  not  make  their  ventures  successful, 
this  fact  may  reasonably  be  deemed  to  have  been  an  element  in  their 
failure.  When  we  make  a  great  gamble,  when  the  stake  is  high — 
say  life, — we  should  never  hesitate  to  put  at  risk  also  any  small  or 
secondary  thing  that  might  bring  us  to  a  successful  issue.  An 
apparently  cautious  policy  in  such  a  crisis  may  be  the  height  of 
folly.  Thus  by  failing  to  risk  a  toe  when  life  is  at  stake  we  may 
lose  life  itself  and  the  toe  also.  A  woman  when  she  marries 
should  hesitate  at  no  minor  risk  to  make  the  greater  gamble  a 
success. 

Nature  has  given  man  the  taller  stature,  the  stronger  muscles, 
and  the  vital  forces  best  suited  to  the  outside  conflict.  The  woman 
has  her  superiorities  as  clearly  defined.  These  are  in  the  line  of 
child-bearing  and  child-rearing. 

Nature  gives  man  the  headship.  When  marriage  was  devised 
by  mankind,  man  took  the  head  of  the  family.  This  is  the  natural 
condition  of  the  family.  Any  other  position  for  man  is  inferior  and 
unnatural.  A  family  thus  faultily  constituted  is  in  conflict  with 
nature.     To  contest  against  nature  is  a  labor  of  Sisyphus. 

The  natural  position  of  the  wife  or  mother  is  not  inferior,  but  is 
grand  and  splendid.     As  the  man  cannot  perform  her  highest  work. 


Wife   Choice,  1 39 

so  to  place  him  in  her  position  is  to  degrade  him,  taking  him  from 
what  he  can  do,  and  can  do  best,  to  place  him  where  he  cannot 
perform  the  duties  at  all. 

To  place  the  woman  at  the  head  of  the  family,  and  consequently 
to  oblige  her  to  stand  the  brunt  of  the  struggle  of  life,  is  to  place  her 
at  a  disadvantage,  in  which  the  family  must  share.  She  enters  a 
fight  in  which,  if  she  be  a  true  woman — that  is,  a  mother, — she  is 
heavily  handicapped.  She  is  degraded  as  well  as  the  man,  and 
diverted  from  those  activities  which  she  can  perform  best,  and  turned 
to  those  she  can  only  perform  at  a  disadvantage. 

Wealth  may  change  the  natural  condition  ;  that  is,  the  physical 
and  nerve  power  of  the  man  may  be  more  than  counteracted  by  the 
power  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  woman  to  purchase  those  quali- 
ties from  others.  Thus  the  man  may,  by  this  means,  be  pitted 
single-handed  against  thousands  of  other  men,  hired  directly  or 
indirectly  by  the  woman.  The  man  then,  by  artificial  means,  be- 
comes the  weaker  of  the  two  life  partners.  Nature  is  overthrown, 
and  misery  is  the  result. 

It  is  seldom  that  a  wealthy  wife  is  able  altogether  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  use  the  power  wealth  gives,  and  to  more  or  less  upset 
thereby  the  natural  relation  of  the  sexes  in  her  marriage. 

To  save  your  own  powers,  which  are  increased  by  headship  and 
responsibility,  and  your  own  self-esteem,  the  counsel  is  repeated  to 
take  a  woman  to  wife  from  a  wealthy  family  only  on  one  of  the 
conditions  named. 

A  husband  should  always  be  older  than  his  wife.  Five  years' 
difference  is  little  enough,  and  fifteen  not  too  much.  Plato  advises 
a  difference  in  age,  between  the  contracting  parties  in  marriage,  of 
twenty  years,  and  lyycurgus  laid  down  the  ages  of  marriage  for  the 
different  sexes  at  thirty-seven  for  the  man  and  seventeen  for  the 
woman.  These  differences  are  extreme,  and  demand  too  long  a 
continence  on  the  part  of  the  male. 

The  reason  why  the  man  should  be  oldest,  is  that  women  lose 
their  sexual  attractions  sooner  than  men,  and  depend  for  a  happy 
marriage  very  much  on  them.  Women  at  about  the  age  of  forty-five 
lose  their  capacity  to  have  children,  while  men  do  not  lose  this 
capacity  for  an  indefinite  period  after  this  age. 

Thus  a  man  marrying  a  woman  of  his  own  age,  and,  still  more, 
marrying  one  older  than  himself,  finds  after  a  time  the  wife  dimin- 
ished in  sexual  attraction  and  altogether  incapable  of  bearing  chil- 
dren, while  he  still  has  the  full  activity  and  command  of  these  his 
most  vital  functions.  This  is  a  dangerous  condition  for  a  marriage 
to  get  into.     It  should  be  counteracted  by  marrying  a  woman  suf- 


140  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

ficiently  younger  than  yourself  to  give  a  reasonable  expectation  that 
both  will  grow  old  in  these  functions  together. 

Too  early  marriage  is  not  advisable  in  either  sex.  While  the 
age  of  puberty  in  the  male  and  in  the  female  indicates  the  call  of 
nature  to  reproduce,  still  we  know  that  the  first  efforts  of  reproduc- 
tion in  the  flowers  and  seeds  of  plants  are  often  imperfect.  This  is 
probably  true  of  animals,  including  man.  Besides,  the  premature 
use  of  the  generative  functions  and  organs  weakens  the  constitution 
and  character,  diminishes  the  prospect  of  life,  and  gives  a  progeny 
tending  to  retrogression  rather  than  to  improvement,  and  sometimes 
induces  sterility. 

From  18  to  20  is  the  best  age  for  a  bride,  but  16  is  not  an  impos- 
sible age.  It  is  not  advisable  to  take  a  woman  as  wife  who  is  over 
25.  Some  English  statistics  show  that  one  marriage  in  fourteen 
of  women  between  15  and  19  is  sterile,  that  nearly  all  marriages 
between  20  and  24  are  fertile,  and  that  after  24  the  proportion  of 
sterile  marriages  increases  with  the  age  of  the  bride.  What  these 
statistics  are  worth  I  do  not  know,  nor  how  the  proportion  of  one 
sterile  marriage  in  fourteen  before  20  is  made  up.  It  v/ould  seem 
probable  that  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  this  period,  say  15, 
16,  and  17,  would  make  the  bulk  of  the  sterility. 

In  this  country  the  figures  would  not  apply,  as  over  most  of  our 
territory  the  age  of  puberty  comes  earlier  than  in  England.  Conse- 
quently the  most  fertile  age  would  be  from  eighteen  to  twenty-two, 
if  the  distance  from  the  age  of  puberty  is  a  governing  cause  in 
woman's  fertility  and  the  English  figures  are  authentic.  Owing  to 
the  increased  chance  of  sterility  after  twenty-four  or  twenty-five,  that 
age  in  women  is  a  pretty  good  limit  to  the  wife  chooser.  One 
marriage  in  eight  is  unproductive  of  living  children  in  England,  one 
in  four  in  Suffolk  County,  Mass.,  and  probably  the  proportion  of 
sterility  is  increasing.  The  importance  of  this  question  will  therefore 
be  seen. 

In  exceptional  cases,  such  as  a  man  marrying  a  second  time  when 
pretty  well  advanced  in  life  himself,  the  rule  may  be  relaxed.  Under 
Such  conditions  it  might  be  better  to  take  a  good  virgin  old  enough 
to  understand  herself,  for  youth  and  old  age  do  not  always  make  a 
happy  combination  in  matrimony. 

A  woman  married  after  thirty  has  increased  difficulty  in  bearing 
children.  This  is  owing  to  the  lack  of  use  of  the  reproductive  parts, 
which  by  their  disuse  become  stiff  and  less  yielding  and  less  normal 
in  their  action.  For  this  reason  first  births  after  thirty  have  a  larger 
proportion  than  usual  of  breech,  side,  and  other  presentations  of  the 
child  more  or  less  hard  to  deal  with,  and  the  perineum  and  cervix 


Wife  Choice,  141 

are  oftener  torn  in  such  women.  The  proportion  of  the  sexes  of 
first-born  is  reversed  from  mothers  between  tkirty  and  forty,  and  girls 
predominate. 

The  recent  studies  of  Eckhardt  {Zeitschrift  fUr  Gebiirtshulfe  und 
Gyncckologie,  xiv. ,  i ,  p.  44)  confirming  those  of  Kleinwachter  show 
that  the  mortahty  of  the  children  of  primiparae  increases  with  the 
age  of  the  mother.  The  mortality  is  nearly  three  times  as  great 
amongst  old  primiparae  as  amongst  the  young.  The  difference  be- 
comes noticeable  at  twenty  years  of  age  and  increases  with  acceler- 
ating rapidity  in  each  period  of  four  years  afterwards.  Forceps 
deliveries  occur  three  times,  and  perforation  five  times,  as  often  in  old 
primiparae  as  in  young. 

It  may  seem  to  some  that  all  these  conditions  will  be  difficult  to 
find  in  woman,  and  that  marriage  will  consequently  become  uncer- 
tain on  account  of  the  impracticability  of  carrying  out  the  rules  in 
this  chapter.  * 

If  such  an  idea  takes  possession  of  you,  dismiss  it  at  once.  First, 
I  would  rather  you  should  marry  ill  than  not  marry  at  all  ;  and 
second,  the  world  is  full  -of  good  girls  who  are  healthy  in  body, 
morals,  and  mind. 

The  cause  of  the  unhappiness  of  so  many  marriages  is  faulty 
education  and  breeding  in  both  men  and  women.  Women  correctly 
educated  are  to  be  preferred  as  wives  ;  but  a  woman  with  the  essen- 
tials wed  to  a  man  of  some  force,  who  has  been  educated  in  the 
realities  of  life,  may  be  expected  to  turn  out  well.  Women  are  im- 
pressionable, and  therefore  errors,  especially  errors  of  omission  in 
their  bringing  up,  can  be  overcome.  They  must  be  taken  young, 
however,  if  any  change  is  expected. 

In  old  countries,  the  principal  considerations  in  the  choice  of  a 
wife  are  of  a  financial  or  social  nature.  In  a  new  country,  the  choice 
of  a  wife  depends  more  on  personal  appearance,  character,  etc.  The 
latter  are  by  far  the  safer  guides.  To  'make  them  perfect  it  is  only 
essential  that  in  youth  the  man  should  have  become  thoroughly  im- 
pressed with  the  qualities  which  constitute  a  good  woman,  and 
familiarized  with  the  object  of  marriage — that  is,  the  getting  of  pro- 
geny and  the  consequent  perpetuation  of  his  life  by  means  of  them 
and  their  descendants. 

Instinct  guides  a  man  to  a  type  of  woman  best  fitted  to  perpetuate 
the  lives  of  both  and  leads  him  to  lack  interest  in  women  of  types  un- 
suited  to  his  own.  In  extreme  youth  this  instinct  is  often  immature. 
By  means  of  romances  and  imperfect  understanding,  as  well  as  by 
the  incomplete  development  of  the  reproductive  instinct,  young 
people  often  make  gross  errors  of  choice,  and  sometimes  come  to  con- 


142  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

sider  that  only  one  particular  individual  in  the  world  can  become 
their  mates  and  be  truly  loved.  These  ideas,  when  carried  to  an  ex- 
treme, result  in  much  harm,  sometimes  in  sickness,  occasionally  in 
suicide  and  murder  when  the  desire  is  disappointed. 

It  is  therefore  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  instinct  we  call  love 
is  really  more  for  a  type  than  for  an  individual,  and  that  its  concen- 
tration on  one  person  is  a  matter  of  convenience  which  may  be  trans- 
ferred to  another.  Not  so  the  ripe  love  to  a  fertile  spouse.  Here  the 
lives  are  fused  indi visibly  in  the  children.  A  true  man  once  bound  to 
a  woman  by  this  tie  must  always  be  bound  to  her  in  feeling. 

The  instinct  of  love  is  the  outcome  of  the  necessity  of  reproduc- 
tion. The  young  man  should  respect  the  instinct,  not  to  become  its 
slave,  but  to  look  to  it  for  light  and  guidance  in  the  m3^ster}^  of 
marriage.  It  has  been  often  said  that  "love  is  blind."  A  saying 
nearer  the  truth  would  be  that  love  can  see  the  spiritual  and  vital 
harmonies  best  for  immortality  in  the  child.  That  a  faulty  education 
may  destroy  the  strength  and  truth  of  love  is  only  too  apparent.  The 
time  has  come  for  us  to  take  off  whatever  bandages  convention, 
ignorance,  or  error  has  placed  over  Love's  eyes.  Reason  should  be 
the  salt  with  which  to  flavor  love. 

The  only  child-god  of  the  ancients  was  "  Cupid,"  the  god  of  love. 
Here  is  a  beautiful  harmony  of  truth,  the  child  the  god  of  love. 
Nothing  could  be  more  true.  '  Love  is  the  spiritualized  instinct  of 
reproduction.  In  healthy  bodies  and  minds  it  is  confined,  to  be  loosed 
only  to  persons  of  the  opposite  sex,  whose  age  and  vitalit}^  give 
promise  of  good  progeny.  Without  the  child  there  is  no  god  of  love. 
The  child  is  the  origin  of  love.  Love  is  a  sexual  awakening  that  by 
instinct  drives  us  to  perpetuate  ourselves.  Without  the  child  it  is 
like  the  heavens  without  the  sun.  Without  the  child,  love,  bom  in 
us  to  bear  again  the  child,  must  change.  It  may  cool  off  to  friendly 
liking,  to  a  sentiment  such  as  persons  of  the  same  sex  feel  for  each 
other,  or  it  may  degenerate  into  fruitless  lust  where  the  wife  is  but  a 
prostitute  to  one  man. 

We  must  admit  that  the  romantic  love  leading  to  marriage 
changes  in  character  afterward  with  or  without  the  child.  Without 
progeny,  its  change  is  for  the  worse,  while  with  the  child  it  may 
grow  in  strength  and  steadfastness. 

In  France  and  in  most  of  the  countries  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  a  dot  or  dowry  is  required  from  the  bride.  Coincident  with 
this  rule  is  the  custom  of  unduly  immuring  the  3^oung  girls,  and 
thus  preventing  a  proper  development  of  character.  By  this  system 
the  man  sees  little  of  the  woman  before  marriage,  and  his  matrimonial 
views  are  largely  controlled  by  the  size  of  the  dot.  Nature  is  put  in  a 


Wife  Choice,  143 

dark  closet.  I  cannot  believe  that  this  system  is  one  that  will  lead  to  a 
progressive  and  improved  race.  A  further  feature  of  this  method  is 
a  liberty  of  the  woman,  after  marriage,  inconsistent  with  her  previous 
training,  and  for  which  she  is  not  prepared.  Theoretically,  this 
system  appears  indefensible.  The  dot  makes  money,  and  not  phy- 
sique or  intellect,  the  guide  in  matrimony.  And  the  education  of  the 
girl  and,  the  style  of  courtship  make  it  difficult  for  the  man  to  know 
anything  about  the  character  and  type  of  the  woman.  Virtue  alone 
is  assured,  and  this  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  its  subsequent  main- 
tenance by  the  woman  doubtful.  If  the  size  of  a  dot  was  an  unfailing 
guide,  or  any  guide  to  a  girl's  suitability  as  a  wife  and  future  mother, 
something  could  be  said  for  the  system,  but  wealth  is,  at  the  best,  for 
this  purpose  an  unreliable  guide  for  reasons  already  set  forth. 

A  large  dot  may  make  a  family  wealthy,  but  wealth  is  not  what 
we  live  for.  As  compared  to  the  perpetuation  and  improvement  of 
life  in  our  children,  it  is  as  the  refuse  in  a  swill  barrel  to  a  Thanks- 
giving feast  spread  thick  with  richest  viands. 

While  the  French  system  does  not  seem  good,  there  are  sugges- 
tions in  it  that  may  lead  to  good.  Marriages  under  this  system  are 
made  according  to  reason.  Instinct  has  little  or  no  part  in  the 
matter.  If  the  reason  were  but  true  and  reliable,  if  the  objects 
sought  to  be  obtained  were  but  the  true  interests  of  the  individual 
and  of  the  race,  who  can  doubt  but  that  the  results  of  such  a  system 
would  be  better  than  our  haphazard,  happy-go-lucky  total  absence 
of  method.  Some  things,  however,  must  cause  us  to  pause  upon 
such  a  decision.  If  the  instinct  of  love  be  too  grossly  violated, 
nature  will  be  revenged.  The  intimacies  of  marriage  leave  one  room 
enough  to  pay  penalties  for  error.  It  is  said  by  some  that  even 
sterility  may  result  from  a  violation  of  the  instincts  leading  up  to 
reproduction. 

Where  you  are  favorably  impressed  with  a  young  woman  as  a 
future  wife,  it  will  be  well  to  make  a  business  of  seeing  a  number  of 
the  same  t5^e.  If  she  be  a  German,  go  to  a  German  quarter  ;  if  she 
be  English,  look  up  English  people,  and  so  on.  The  reason  of  this 
is  that  an  individual  representing  a  type  favorable  to  you  for 
reproduction,  but  new  to  you,  may  at  once  awaken  a  strong  feeling 
of  what  is  called  love.  You  are  attracted  and  commit  yourself,  when 
perhaps  you  might  easily  have  found  another  member  of  the  same 
type  very  superior  to  the  one  who  has  led  you  to  perceive  what  type 
you  should  take. 

It  should  also  be  taught  to  young  men  about  to  marry,  that  they 
ought  to  make  a  business  of  seeing  under  varying  conditions  those 
who  attract  them.     Most  of  us  have  a  mask  we  wear  in  public,  and 


144  1^^^  Conquest  of  Death. 

one  not  always  eas}^  to  see  behind.  A  3'Oung  lady  charming  in 
social  gatherings  should  therefore  be  sought  unexpectedly  and  in 
situations  where  she  may  be  presumed  to  be  off  her  guard. 

With  some,  love  before  marriage — that  is,  the  feeling  of  attraction 
and  desire  for  an  individual — becomes  passion,  and  is  not  to  be 
regulated  by  the  reason.  With  proper  training  beforehand,  such 
cases  ought  to  be  rare.  When  cases  of  this  kind  threatening  im- 
proper marriages  occur,  travel,  separation,  and  new  scenes  afford  the 
best  antidote.  Always  in  cases  involving  these  instincts,  manage- 
ment of  a  very  judicious  kind  is  required.  Direct  antagonism  is 
seldom  advantageous. 

When  you  become  engaged,  marry.  Make  investigations  and 
complete  probations  beforehand,  but  when  you  have  made  up  3^ our 
mind  and  obtained  the  woman's  consent,  complete  the  transaction  at 
once.  I  think  that  a  marriage  quick  from  the  engagement  is  the 
most  likely  to  be  happy.  For  a  man  of  any  warmth  of  feeling,  to  be 
engaged  is  to  be  in  a  sort  of  mild  purgatory.  If  this  state  be 
prolonged,  it  cannot  but  react  upon  the  health.  The  awakened 
reproductive  instinct  continually  repressed  may  have  very  serious 
consequences  upon  the  constitution. 

Young  women  are  less  subject,  but  still  subject,  to  the  same 
suffering  and  injury.  Dr.  Goodell  in  his  Lessons  in  Gynecology,  page 
365,  attributes  this  as  a  frequent  cause  of  uterine  disease,  and  there- 
fore advises  against  long  engagements  to  marry,  where  the  caresses 
sanctioned  by  custom  in  this  country  are  permitted.  He  is  also  out- 
spoken in  condemning  the  kissing,  hugging,  and  forfeit  games 
common  amongst  our  middle  classes,  for  the  same  reason.  I  am 
able  to  confirm  his  statements  by  one  or  two  instances  that  have 
come  under  my  observation.  Certainly  mothers  and  girls  them- 
selves should  be  careful  in  these  matters. 

Use  judgment  and  deliberation  in  choosing.  The  choice  made — 
marry.     I  recommend  you  to  choose  by  your  twenty-fifth  year. 

Intemperance  or  insanity  in  a  family  should  be  a  bar  in  marriage, 
for  either  of  these  in  the  parents  will  certainly  transmit  serious  weak- 
ness to  the  children,  while  the  appearance  of  such  conditions  in  a 
brother  or  sister  of  the  proposed  bride  will  indicate  a  constitutional 
taint  likely  to  break  out  in  her  children  in  some  injurious  form,  if 
not  insanity  or  intemperance,  then  consumption  or  other  destructive 
disease. 

You  should  not  marry  a  consumptive,  or  one  with  syphilis  or 
any  constitutional  disease.  Close  consanguinity  in  marriage,  from 
the  evidence  at  my  command,  is  injurious  when  there  is  a  taint  in 
the  family  constitution,  such  as  gout,  consumption,  etc.     Otherwise, 


Wife  Choice,  145 

it  seems  to  have  no  bad  effects,  except  where  long  persisted  in  from 
generation  to  generation. 

Advantageous^  variations  of  the  individual  amongst  domesticated 
animals  have  been  maintained  and  increased  by  careful  breeding. 
One  necessity  for  success  in  this  is  now  recognized.  It  is  in-breeding, 
with  an  occasional  cross  to  add  vigor  in  secondary  characteristics, 
T^hich,  by  the  in-breeding  for  a  special  object,  are  becoming  too 
weak. 

In  the  thoroughbred  horse,  in  the  Jersey  cow,  in  the  Percheron 
stallion,  and  in  the  Durham  bull  we  see  the  advantage  and  necessity 
of  in-breeding  to  perpetuate  superior  qualities  and  its  lack  of 
destructive  effects. 

Still  many  curious  things  come  out  of  excess  of  in-breeding  :  one  is 
a  great  increase  in  the  proportion  of  male  to  female  progeny,  and  a 
tendency  to  sterility. 

Doubtless  attention  to  the  digestion,  vitality,  bones,  eyes,  etc.,  of 
these  animals  would  have  made  them  as  superior  in  these  points  as 
they  are  in  those  for  which  they  are  bred. 

Amongst  animal  breeders  even  brothers  and  sisters  are  bred  to- 
gether. Weakness  in  reproduction  is  a  frequent  condition  in  high- 
bred animals.  How  far  it  may  be  due  to  in-breeding  is  now  hard  to 
say.  Amongst  men  also,  brothers  and  sisters  as  well  as  cousins  and 
other  close  relatives  have  often  been  permitted  to  marry.  The  royal 
family  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt,  of  whom  Cleopatra  was  the  last, 
had  a  number  of  marriages  between  brothers  and  sisters  and  other 
close  blood  connections.  The  Ptolemies  ruled  in  Egypt  for  a  long 
period  and  probably  will  rank  with  the  average  royal  families  in  all 
respects.  Their  frequent  close  in-breeding  was  not  productive,  and 
the  royal  line  was  in  only  two  instances  dependent  on  such  mar- 
riages for  its  continuity.  Other  wives  than  those  of  the  same  family 
were  the  means  of  maintaining  the  dynasty. 

The  old  myth  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  a  brother  and  sister  married  to 
each  other,  would  indicate  that  this  sort  of  marriage  was  not  un- 
common amongst  the  still  more  ancient  Egyptians. 

There  are  many  reasons,  however,  to  justify  the  universal  rule  of 
civilized  nations  against  the  marriage  of  brothers  and  sisters,  and  the 
almost  universal  prejudice,  often  re-enforced  by  rule,  against  the 
marriage  of  cousins. 

This  useful  absence  of  sexual  love  amongst  near  kindred  is  now 
attributed  to  an  instinct,  evolved  by  its  utility,  against  reproduction 
with  those  with  whom  we  have  been  in  close  association  from  child- 
hood. In  man's  regulation  it  takes  the  most  extraordinar}^  forms 
as  seen  in  exogamy  or  the  marrying  outside  of  the  tribe.     In  some 


1 46  The    Conquest  of  Death. 

places  (China)  persons  of  the  same  clan  name  cannot  marr>^,  al- 
though not  in  any  way  related,  while  thej^  can  marry  persons  of 
dilBferent  clan  names  to  whom  they  are  related. 

It  is  needless  to  discuss  the  numerous  degrees  of  consanguinity 
prohibited  or  discouraged  by  the  rules  of  men.  It  is  enough  to  say 
that  the  marriage  of  parents  and  children  or  children  of  the  same 
family  with  each  other  should  be  barred.  Beyond  this  there  seems 
no  good  reason  for  going. 

Constitutional  taint  transmits  itself  generally  by  producing  its 
like,  but  oftentimes  there  is  a  sort  of  transmutation.  Thus  a  con- 
sumptive may  have  consumptive  children,  but  idiocy,  insanity,  spinal 
disease,  deformity,  intemperance,  or  constitutional  immorality,  all 
steadily  tending  to  sterility,  may  be  the  outcome  of  such  a  marriage. 
When  you  find  any  weakness  in  yourself,  do  not  on  account  of  these 
remarks  despair.  The  taint,  if  not  too  strongly  established,  may  be 
eradicated. 

I  have  known  of  such  instances.  Careful  life  under  the  best  con- 
ditions and  judicious  breeding  for  several  generations  are  necessary 
to  achieve  this  result. 

There  is  a  large  risk  to  be  undertaken  when  marrying  one  who  is 
diseased.  Therefore,  while  the  world  has  plenty  of  healthy  women 
by  whom  you  can  strengthen  your  breed,  do  not  marry  weaklings, 
whose  defects  your  children  will  at  least  require  generations  to  eradi- 
cate. They  may,  you  should  remember,  never  succeed  in  doing  this, 
the  eventful  result  being  to  sink  your  life  in  theirs  under  an  impossible 
load. 

It  is  well,  as  has  been  said,  to  avoid  only  children  in  marriage. 
Such  a  child  is  very  precious  to  its  parents.  The  attention  of  these 
is  concentrated  upon  it.  The  value  the  parents  set  on  the  life  of  an 
only  child  is  so  great  that  they  generally  keep  the  precious  one  from 
every  possible  risk.  This  course  prevents  a  due  and  natural  develop- 
ment of  self-reliance  and  character  ;  therefore  only  children  are  rarely 
distinguished  in  after  life. 

The  large  value  set  on  them  generally  results  in  coddling  and 
pampering,  which  treatment  reacts  unfavorably  on  the  child's  nature. 
Only  too  often  do  we  see  the  only  child  ruined,  or  as  it  is  commonlj^ 
called  spoiled,  by  the  afiection  of  the  parents.  These  misguided 
ones  implant  in  it  vanity,  self-sufficiency,  bad  manners,  and  withal  a 
plentiful  lack  of  character. 

The  parental  feeling  of  tenderness,  which  removes  ever>^  possible 
obstacle  from  the  path  of  the  child,  removes  also  the  only  means  the 
child  has  for  development  of  force  and  character. 

Speaking  generally,  the  best  promise  at  once  of  fertility  and  of  a 


Wife  Choice,  147 

well-formed  character  is  found  in  girls  members  of  large  families.  If 
the  parents  have  had  large  families,  the  girls  may  be  expected  to  in- 
herit their  reproductive  powers.  With  many  brothers  and  sisters  the 
edge  of  unreasonable  selfishness  and  other  bad  character  traits  is 
likely  to  be  taken  off.  The  statistics  of  T.  W.  Hollands  show  that 
morality  is  more  common  in  large  families  than  in  small  ones.  Sir 
W.  Gull  says  that  the  members  of  large  families  furnish  the  strong- 
est members  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service  (Finck).  Franklin  ad- 
vises a  wife-seeker  to  take  her  out  of  a  bunch  of  sisters. 

Dr.  Chervin,  a  distinguished  statistician,  states  that  in  the  depart- 
ments of  Kure,  Oise,  Orne,  and  lyower  Seine,  where  the  families  have 
less  children,  the  number  of  recruits  discharged  from  the  military 
service  for  physical  disability  is  the  greatest.  Dr.  Luis  de  Serd  says 
that  in  French  families  with  a  small  number  of  children  these  are 
less  healthy  and  vigorous  than  the  progeny  of  large  families.  He 
attributes  small  families  to  preventive  measures  taken  by  the  mar- 
ried. Regarding  one  of  these  known  as  ''withdrawal,"  in  which 
the  sexual  act  is  not  completed,  he  cites  physicians'  opinions  to  the 
efiect  that  it  is  the  cause  of  much  ill-health,  especially  of  those  forms 
of  progressive  paralysis  which  of  late  have  been  spreading  so  widely. 
De  Sere  also  expresses  the  opinion  very  strongly  that  all  such  meas- 
ures exert  a  deplorable  effect  on  the  cerebro-spinal  system  in  man, 
and  also  that  such  children  as  are  bom  under  these  conditions  tend 
to  weakness  and  inferiority.  The  woman  also  is  injured  through 
excitement  without  complete  satisfaction.  The  results  appear  most 
in  her  uterus.  Only  children  are  therefore  not  desirable.  The  way 
things  are  going  it  wiU  be  next  to  impossible  to  maiTy  into  an  Ameri- 
can family  if  a  large  number  of  children  is  necessary  for  a  choice. 

We  cannot  be  strict  in  this  rule,  but  still  avoid  an  only  child.  While 
Americans  continue  to  have  two  to  a  marriage  the  difiiculty  of  se- 
curing a  proper  virgin  for  a  wife,  when  found,  may  be  reduced  by  the 
knowledge  of  what  a  woman  admires. 

The  female  in  marriage  needs  protection.  It  is  therefore  easy  to 
understand  that  she  likes  courage  and  daring  in  a  man  as  well  as 
energy  and  force. 

A  person  of  one  sex  is  under  difiiculties  when  undertaking  to 
portray  the  inner  feelings  of  those  of  the  opposite  sex.  There 
is  an  element  of  error  in  all  such  portrayals  against  which  we 
should  guard. 

It  is,  howevei",  a  fair  presumption  that  the  novels  written  by  men, 
taking  them  as  a  class,  portray  the  qualities  of  woman  most  ad- 
mired by  men,  and  with  equal  reason  we  may  expect  the  novels  of 
women  will  portray  the   qualities  of  men  most  admired  by  women. 


148  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

In  glancing  through  a  large  number  of  books  by  men,  we  find  their 
favorite  women  characters  peculiarly  feminine,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  favorite  male  characters  in  women's  novels  are  forceful  and 
masculine,  often  to  an  extravagant  extent.  The  difficulty  of  man  in 
fathoming  the  heart  of  woman  is  somewhat  removed  by  the  uncon- 
scious exposition  of  a  woman's  own  heart,  which  her  novel  is.  As 
is  the  excellence  of  the  novel  so  is  the  truth  of  her  own  reflection. 
Women's  novel  heroes  are  often  portrayed  as  ugly  but  not  weak. 

A  study  of  women's  novels  will  show  a  man  that  he  has  nothing 
to  hope  for  in  gaining  a  woman's  love  by  throwing  away  his  manhood 
and  his  manliness. 

A  woman  studying  men's  novels  will  find  little  encouragement  to 
the  masculine  type  of  women  for  securing  the  love  of  man. 

A  man  seeking  a  wife,  therefore,  should  never  neglect  to  make 
an  aggressive  and  persistent  fight  for  the  woman  he  loves.  Some 
strategy,  however,  is  not  out  of  place.  lyong  absences  cool  love  and 
diminish  interest,  but  short  ones  intensify  the  fire.  Thus  a  lover, 
if  he  finds  his  suit  not  progressing  favorably,  may  increase  the  girl's 
interest  by  a  short  absence,  and  increase  by  the  same  opportunity  for 
reflection  his  own  inventions  and  energy  for  conquest. 

Many  minor  matters,  looking  to  successful  love-making,  might 
be  suggested,  but  the  instinct  of  love  is  so  domineering  when  it  takes 
possession  of  one,  that  advice  to  the  lover  is  like  water  to  the  back 
of  a  duck.  Neither  make  any  impression.  What  we  must  work  for 
is  to  form  the  character  beforehand,  so  that  love  will  take  the  true 
course  and  attach  the  young  man  to  the  proper  type  of  persons  only. 
The  reason  may  eventually  be  a  better  guide  to  marriage  than  is 
love.     This  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  the  case  now. 

An  inquiry  well  worthy  of  attention  is  the  effect  of  the  vocation 
of  the  parents  upon  their  children.  Dr.  Down,  in  the  Medical 
Record,  has  given  a  number  of  figures  on  this  point.  He  says  that 
the  percentage  of  idiots  and  of  persons  afterward  eminent  in  the 
whole  population  born  to  fathers  in  three  of  the  professions  is  : 

Idiots.  Eminent  Men. 
Lawyers  ...         3  per  cent.  1 1  per  cent. 

Doctors    .         .         .        4    "       "  9     "      " 

Clergymen       .         .       18    "       '*  4     "      '' 

As  far  as  these  figures  are  reliable,  they  show  either  that  the 
strongest  minds  tend  to  select  the  law  or  medicine  as  a  profession, 
and  the  weakest,  theology,  or  that  the  effect  upon  the  parent  of  these 
vocations  is  very  different. 

A  woman  complete  and  sound  on  the  reproductive  question,  both 
as  to  wish  and  capacity,  comprises  in  this  qualification  all  things 


Wife  Choice,  149 

necessary  for  a  wife.  For  this  she  must  be  suitable  to  the  man  in  type, 
of  sound  body  and  developed  intellect,  and  withal  well  reared  in 
manners  and  modesty.  She  must  be  a  virgin,  and  possess  a  strong 
instinct  of  motherhood.  She  must  be  so  possessed  of  virtue  that  her 
husband  may  feel  complete  security  in  the  paternity  of  his  children. 

The  writings  of  Francis  Galton  and  of  Henry  Maudsley  show  the 
influence  of  heredity  on  the  capacity  of  the  individual.  Read  them, 
so  that  you  will  understand  the  importance  of  some  investigation 
into  the  family  record  of  a  proposed  mate.  You  cannot  find  the 
perfect  in  humanity  ;  it  would  be  but  a  waste  of  time  to  look  for  it. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  of  great  importance  to  you  to  avoid  unions 
with  families  that  are  behind  the  average  in  either  physique  or  brain 
capacity,  or  tending  to  sterility. 

You  cannot  make  a  silk  purse  out  of  a  sow's  ear.  Bad  seed,  poor 
crop.  Bad  mother,  poor  child.  The  choice  of  a  wife  is  the  one  event 
of  life  more  than  any  other  which  establishes  our  happiness  or  misery 
here,  and,  through  our  children,  our  destiny  in  ages  to  come. 

Some  appreciate  its  importance  so  much  that  the  instinct  of  repro- 
duction is  overcome,  and  they  never  marry.  This  is  like  the  sailor 
on  the  desert  island  with  two  lots  of  food,  one  poisoned,  the  other 
good.  In  this  story  the  sailor,  fearing  the  poison,  ate  neither,  and 
died  of  starvation.  By  a  little  judicious  tasting,  the  sailor  could 
doubtless  have  discriminated  between  the  two  foods,  but  in  any  case 
it  would  have  been  the  part  of  wisdom  to  have  selected  one  of  the 
foods  and  eaten.  In  that  way  he  would  have  had  one  chance  out 
of  two  for  life,  while  a  refusal  to  eat  meant  a  painful  and  slow  death 
by  starvation.  So  in  marrying,  you  may  be  successful  or  you  may 
not,  but  choose  a  wife  you  must.  The  question  is  one  of  life  or 
death.  Children  and  immortality  in  promise,  or  death  and  extermi- 
nation in  sterility. 

If  the  choice  of  a  wife  gives  you  the  disaster  of  a  sterile  woman, 
you  must  divorce  her  and  choose  again.  No  children  is  the  one 
thing  that  is  beyond  all  pardon  in  a  wife.  Knowing  the  risks,  use 
care  in  choosing  ;  but,  knowing  also  the  certainty  of  extermination 
without  children,  do  what  you  must  bravely  and  in  time.  If  you 
fail,  you  may  still  choose  again.  Choose  then  wisely  if  you  can, 
but  choose,  and  do  it  in  your  prime. 

The  orange  blossom  is  the  emblem  of  marriage.  It  is  the  flower 
of  that  fruit  which  produces  more  to  the  acre  than  any  other  known 
in  the  temperate  zone.  It  is  the  emblem  of  fertility.  So  wisely 
chosen  an  emblem  should  point  the  married  to  the  great  object  of 
married  life — that  is,  to  fruits. 


('- 


^T>: 


CHAPTER  V. 
THK   CHII,D. 

THE  treatment  of  the  child  involves  so  much  more  than  it  is 
ordinarily  considered  to  do,  and  the  improvement  of  our 
immortality  as  represented  by  the  child  is  of  such  paramount 
importance,  that  it  seems  reasonable  to  consider  this  subject  from  a 
very  wide  point  of  view. 

Our  lives  are  affected  by  events  of  to-day  and  still  more  by  those 
accumulated  influences  from  the  past  ages  of  the  world's  history. 
Those  events  already  accomplished  are  beyond  our  control.  The 
effects  of  our  deeds  will  likewise  be  beyond  the  control  of  our  descend- 
ants. While  the  past  cannot  be  changed,  it  may  still  act  as  a  guide 
to  prevent  the  repetition  of  error.  Thus  is  the  utility  of  the  study  of 
the  bygone  made  clear.  The  history  of  a  family  is  interesting  in  its 
indications  of  the  weaknesses  to  be  anticipated  and  overcome,  and  of 
the  strong  points  to  be  developed  and  brought  out  in  the  children  of 
such  families. 

These  ancient  influences  may  well  deserve  our  attention  and  repay 
some  study,  in  that  they  show  the  importance  of  regulating  our  own 
lives  to  secure  the  best  heritage  of  health  and  character  for  our  chil- 
dren. We  may  transmit  an  inheritance  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
from  our  life  of  to-day  to  our  lives  of  to-morrow.  The  inheritance 
may  be  one  for  salvation  or  one  for  damnation. 

It  rests  largely  with  the  individual  as  to  which  it  shall  be.  As  we 
are  influenced  and  our  lives  colored  by  the  acts  of  our  fathers,  mothers, 
grandfathers,  grandmothers,  and  ancestors,  so  our  children's  lives 
will  be  largely  stamped  and  controlled  by  what  we  do  before  their 
birth.  A  young  man  or  woman  who  contracts  preventable  disease 
through  ignorance,  carelessness,  or  folly,  and  thereby  injures  the 
physique,  or  who  by  idleness  or  excess  enters  the  camp  of  vice  and 
thereby  injures  the  moral  nature  as  well  as  the  physical,  is  injuring 
not  only  himself  or  herself,  but  is  likewise  inaugurating  a  line  of 
suffering  and  misery  that  may,  through  children,  curse  his  or  her  life 
through  indefinite  ages,  or  it  may  exterminate  such  person  altogether. 

The  law  of  Moses  expresses  this  penalty  (we  must  say  dreadful 
penalty)  clearly  enough  :  "I,  the  I^ord  thy  God,  am  a  jealous  God, 

150 


The    Child. 


151 


visiting  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me. "  As  we  suffer  in  con- 
stitutional defects,  or  gain  in  force  either  physical  or  moral,  or  both, 
from  the  acts  of  our  ancestors,  so  will  our  children  suffer  for  our  bad 
acts  or  benefit  by  our  good  ones  for  periods  of  indefinite  time.  Thus 
our  own  suffering  for  sin  must  go  on  in  our  children,  and  in  them  we 
ourselves  have  a  direct  personal  suffering,  for  we  are  the  child  and 
the  child  is  ourselves. 

From  these  considerations,  conduct  leading  to  physical  or  moral 
deterioration  will  have  less  standing  and  less  excuse  as  the  results  of 
such  acts  are  understood  ;  while  conduct  leading  to  physical  and 
moral  health,  and  consequently  to  happiness,  will  be  given  increased 
incentive  with  the  increased  knowledge  of  the  duration  of  the  reward. 

So  in  the  treatment  of  children,  the  first  point  is  the  treatment  of 
ourselves  even  long  before  the  period  of  conception  of  the  child,  for 
we  thus  treat  the  child  in  futuro.  These  are  matters  to  impress 
upon  the  young,  for  doubtless  by  such  means  increased  value  will  be 
set  on  physical  and  intellectual  work  and  upon  morality. 

While  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  activity  is  essential  to 
those  who  would  bear  children  equal  to  or  better  than  themselves, 
it  must  also  be  remembered  that  excessive  physical  work,  over- 
athletic  training,  and  exhausting  mental  exercise  are  alike  opposed  to 
reproduction.  The  vitality  of  the  individual  is  increased  and  main- 
tained by  a  due  amount  of  physical  and  mental  w^ork.  No  one  can 
be  healthy  without  this,  and  no  one  can  be  the  parent  of  a  sound  child 
without  reasonable  bodily  and  mental  exercise.  But  excessive  or  pre- 
mature effort  of  body  or  mind  exhausts  the  vitality,  though  the  muscle 
or  brain  tissue,  according  to  the  line  of  activity,  may  be  increased. 

By  such  means  the  development  of  the  whole  man  becomes  uneven 
and  one-sided.  Thus  our  years  may  be  shortened  by  too  much 
athletics  as  well  as  by  too  sedentary  a  life  ;  the  mind  may  become 
deranged  by  the  overwork  of  a  business  or  literary  man  as  well  as  by 
the  intellectual  inactivity  of  the  shepherd  or  of  the  prisoner  in  solitary 
confinement. 

Excess  of  idleness  or  excess  of  work  tends  to  extermination.  The 
effect  on  the  individual  is  of  necessity  reflected  in  his  reproductive 
powers.  In  idleness,  license  and  lust  prostitute  and  injure  the  body, 
morals,  and  mind.  Through  the  non-use  of  bodily  and  mental  qual- 
ities, the  vigor  of  these  disappears,  leaving  a  hyper-delicacy  and 
refinement  which  dims,  if  it  does  not  extinguish,  sexual  feeling  and 
the  reproductive  instinct ;  or  it  may  abnormally  develop  this,  with  an 
equally  exterminating  effect.  Such  children  as  are  born  under  either 
condition  will  tend  to  be  inferior  to  the  life,  at  its  commencement,  of 


152  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

the  parent,  and  will  tend  to  reflect  the  parent's  condition  at  the  time 
of  fertilization  and  conception. 

On  the  other  hand,  exhausting  body  or  mind  work  will  weaken 
the  sexual  and  reproductive  instincts  as  well  as  the  vitality  of  the 
individual,  so  that  a  parent  thus  w^orked  out  will  be  unable  to  trans- 
mit superiorities  of  muscle  or  mind  acquired,  by  the  excessive  strain 
practised.  Men  of  the  greatest  muscle  and  athletic  pov/er  and  men 
of  transcendent  mind  development,  whom  we  call  geniuses,  have,  as  a 
rule,  no  children  or  children  of  inferior  constitution  and  rarely  trans- 
mit the  superior  endowments  of  the  parent. 

We  must  not  suppose  from  this  that  superior  power  of  body  or 
mind  is  opposed  and  fatal  to  reproduction,  or  that  improved  qualities 
can  not  be  transmitted. 

Man  has  continually  progressed  through  many  ups  and  downs, 
from  a  universal  use  of  rough  stone  instruments  to  the  civilization 
of  to-day.  The  progress  has  been  chiefly  mental.  Mental  work,, 
impossible  to  primitive  man,  is  doubtless  easy  and  commonplace  to 
the  higher  types  of  to-day.  We  may  affirm  this  from  the  fact  that 
tribes  of  men  in  a  condition  similar,  as  to  the  use  of  tools,  to  w^hat  all 
primitive  men  at  one  time  were  in,  have  a  mental  capacity  inferior  to 
our  own,  and  an  average  brain  weight  of  males  running  six  to 
twelve  ounces  less  than  the  brain  weights  of  native  male  Americans.. 

Thus  the  genius  of  these  people  might  have  a  brain  below  our 
average.  Mental  work  in  such  a  savage  genius,  that  would  prevent 
reproduction,  at  least  with  improvement,  would  with  our  average 
man  be  perhaps  insufficient  to  produce  the  best  results  in  his 
children. 

There  is  an  amount  of  work  excessive  and  opposed  to  the  best 
results  in  reproduction,  which  varies  according  to  the  development 
and  power  of  the  individual.  What  we  must  look  to  in  this  matter 
is  a  conservation  of  vitality  with  which  to  reproduce  acquired  im- 
provements. Work  alone  will  give  us  this  vitality,  and  work  alone 
will  give  the  improvement  to  transmit.  Excessive  work  may  give 
an  improvement  to  the  individual,  but  through  an  exhausted  vitality^ 
such  improvement  cannot  be  transmitted.  Idleness  is  fatal.  While 
overwork  may  not  be  fatal,  or  may  be  recovered  from,  the  effects  of 
idleness  prolonged  to  the  second  generation  are  rarely  overcome. 

Each  individual  must  draw  the  line  for  him  or  herself.  It  should 
never  be  forgotten  that  the  brain  power  giving  intellect  and  a  possi- 
bility of  the  highest  morality  of  the  superior  races  of  the  world  is 
a  precious  inheritance,  the  result  of  indefinite  ages  of  time  in  devel- 
opment through  pain,  sacrifice,  and  sorrow.  To  perpetuate  this 
brain  power  is  a  duty,  to  improve  it  a  grand  achievement. 


The  Child.  '  153 

It  is  a  great  misfortune  to  the  world  to  have  one  superior  brain 
lost  in  sterility.  The  work  of  a  Shakespeare  will  not  compensate  for 
the  loss  of  a  Shakespearian  mind.  A  Shakespeare's  mind  transmitted 
with  its  full  force  may  compose  poems  and  plays  at  any  time.  Such 
a  mind  once  lost,  what  ages  will  it  take  to  develop  another  so  great. 
Certainly  Shakespeare's  children  did  not  show  his  mental  power. 
Whether  this  was  owing  to  a  great  inferiority  of  brain  in  his  wife 
compared  to  his  own,  excessive  brain  work,  or  to  something  else, 
such  as  dissipation,  etc.,  we  cannot  say.  A  race- horse  bred  to  an  ass 
may  produce  a  very  fine  mule,  but  always  a  mule — ears,  heels,  and 
sterility, — and  never  a  race-horse.  Thus  a  Shakespeare,  to  perpetuate 
his  mental  qualities  in  any  force,  must  breed  to  a  woman  with  a 
brain  of  at  least  good  development,  and  can  expect  but  poor  progeny 
from  a  woman  whose  brain  is  below  the  average  of  her  sex  in  the 
class  to  which  the  man  belongs. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  intellect  of  husband  or  wife,  whichever 
be  the  stronger,  must  be  modified  and  diminished  by  the  ever 
inferiority  of  the  mind  of  one  of  the  partners.  It  is  true  that  this 
adulteration  will  pull  down  the  higher,  but,  also,  it  will  improve  the 
lower,  and  with  the  child  the  improvement  gains  the  possibility 
of  permanence. 

No  written  book  or  individual  act  can  perpetuate  life  as  does  the 
child.  Books  and  acts  may  be  forgotten,  or  deemed  right  to-day 
may  be  found  wrong  to-morrow.  Of  the  billions  on  billions  of  men 
who  have  lived,  how  few  are  remembered  ;  of  the  millions  on  millions 
of  writings  that  have  been  made,  how  few  are  of  use  to-day. 

The  transmitted  intellect,  however,  will  live,  and  though  its 
achievement  be  lessened  to-day,  by  the  necessity  of  reproduction,  its 
possibilities  of  achievement  in  the  future  are  unbounded. 

The  slowness  of  evolution  and  improvement  must  not  discourage 
us.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  extraordinary  development  of  man 
since  the  historical  period  commenced,  and  upon  the  fact  that  our 
own  race  is  of  recent  emergence  from  barbarism,  with  no  probable 
physical  inheritance  from  Egyptian,  Greek,  or  Roman,  or  any  other 
highly  civilized  race,  we  may  be  surprised  at  the  shortness  of  our 
development,  reckoning  by  generations.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
generations,  calculating  each  one  at  twenty-five  years,  carries  us 
beyond  the  accepted  age  of  history,  say  seven  thousand  years.  Fifty- 
six  generations  will  more  than  cover  the  development  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  firom  a  condition  of  barbarism  to  its  present  high  estate. 

While  appreciating  the  difiicultics  before  us  in  the  attempt  to  reach 
immortality  through  our  children  and  to  improve  them  to  a  point  not 
now  comprehensible,  we  must  not  exaggerate  these  diflSculties. 


154  '      The   Conquest  of  Death, 

For  the  purposes  of  this  chapter,  the  treatment  of  a  child  may  be 
said  to  commence  at  conception.  But,  while  this  limitation  is  set,  it 
is  only  so  set  because  the  chapter  would  be  otherwise,  and  properly, 
a  history  and  catechism  of  life.  The  treatment  of  every  child  born 
and  to  be  born  has  been  going  on  from  time  immemorial,  and  every 
act  done,  or  to  be  done,  was  or  is  to  be  a  treatment  of  the  child.  Such 
a  discussion  of  this  subject  would  require  a  library  in  itself. 

These  reasons  make  it  perhaps  permissible  to  take  up  the  treat- 
ment of  the  child  when  its  individual  life  commences. 

The  first  budding  life  of  the  child,  still  unrecognizable  in  its  indi- 
viduality, involves  the  existence  of  all  the  lives  and  influences  which 
enter  into  it  and  of  the  universe  itself.  It  will  be  apparent  to  any 
reasonable  person  that  all  human  qualities,  whether  physical,  intel- 
lectual, or  moral,  that  will  preserve  or  improve,  should  be  guarded 
and  developed,  while  such  as  tend  in  an  opposite  direction  should  be 
discouraged  and  if  possible  destroyed  ;  all  for  the  sake  of  one's  self 
renewed  or  to  be  renewed  in  the  child. 

When  the  spermatozoon  of  the  male  meets  and  fertilizes  the  ovum 
in  the  female,  a  new  life  has  commenced  and  the  lives  of  the  father 
and  mother  are  renewed.  Let  us  proceed  to  the  treatment  of  the 
mother  and  child  from  this  period. 

Conception  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  takes  place  from  sexual 
connection  either  a  day  or  two  before  or  a  few  days  after  the  men- 
strual flow.  Its  most  marked  and  general  first  sign  is  a  cessation  of 
the  menstrual  flow.  The  other  signs  may  be  learned  in  an  obstetrical 
work.  The  duration  of  pregnancy  is  about  278  days.  The  extreme 
term  is  set  down  by  Play  fair  at  295  days,  by  L.  M.  Maur  at  334  days, 
and  by  Simpson  at  336  days. 

Dr.  E.  J.  Abbott  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  reports  a  case  in  which 
the  last  menstrual  period  occurred  on  April  3  to  6,  1888 ;  symp- 
toms of  pregnancy  commenced  about  May  ist ;  quickening  was  clear 
and  certain  in  October ;  delivery  occurred  April  20,  1889,  a  term  of 
over  a  year :  the  child  was  taken  by  forceps  and  weighed  ten  and 
one  half  pounds. 

Pregnancy  is  the  condition  of  a  woman  after  conception  and  until 
the  child  is  bom.  The  simplest  method  of  calculating  the  probable 
time  of  delivery  of  a  child  in  utero  is,  add  seven  to  the  date  of  com- 
mencement of  the  last  menses  and  then  count  back  three  months : 
thus,  if  the  last  menses  commenced  on  November  5th,  we  add  seven 
which  makes  twelve,  and  count  back  three  months  and  determine 
August  12th  as  the  probable  day  of  delivery. 

From  the  moment  of  conception  the  mother  should  avoid  nervous 
or  physical  shocks  or  undue  strain  upon  the  nervous  system.     On 


The   Child,  155 

the  other  hand  both  mind  and  body  should  be  occupied  with  some 
useful  work.  In  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  work  to  which  the  pregnant  woman  is  accustomed  is 
safest.  Thus  horseback  riding  is  exceedingly  dangerous  for  a  preg- 
nant woman,  still  I  have  known  the  case  of  a  woman  who  being  an 
habitual  rider  continued  this  exercise  after  conception  and  nearly  to 
the  day  of  the  child's  birth  without  ill  effect.  There  are  certain  kinds 
of  exercise,  and  horseback  riding  is  one,  that  should,  as  a  rule,  be 
avoided. 

Overhand  movements  are  bad,  as  are  any  exercises  in  which  jars, 
jerks,  or  falls  are  likely  to  occtur.  Miscarriage  is  somewhat  more 
likely  to  happen  about  the  times  the  menses  would  have  appeared 
had  not  pregnancy  supervened.  The  seven  or  eight  days  correspond- 
ing to  these  periods,  therefore,  should  be  specially  watched  to  prevent 
misfortune. 

Dr.  Verdi's  advice  in  his  book  Maternity  is  good.  "Take 
daily  exercise  in  the  open  air  ;  do  not  lace,  do  not  run,  do  not  jump  ; 
do  not  drive  unsafe  horses  ;  give  up  dancing  and  horseback  riding ; 
do  not  plunge  into  cold  water.  Many  women,  in  your  condition, 
will  tell  you  they  have  done  these  things  and  no  harm  befell  them ; 
still,  do  none  of  them."  To  this  may  be  added  :  Do  not  drive  over 
rough  roads  or  engage  in  exercises  where  overhand  or  reaching  move- 
ments are  required,  such  as  clothes-hanging,  etc.  It  is  also  said  by 
Holbrook,  that  treadle  work,  as  on  a  sewing-machine  or  organ,  is 
bad.  When  an  accident  does  happen  that  is  deemed  liable  to  bring 
on  a  miscarriage,  rest  and  your  physician  are  the  friends  to  invoke. 
Everything  should  be  done  to  quiet  the  woman's  apprehensions,  for 
the  fear  of  the  loss  may  be  so  strong  as  to  bring  on  the  abortion  which 
otherwise  would  not  have  occurred. 

Miscarriage  sometimes  happens  without  any  sufl&cient  apparent 
cause  ;  in  other  cases  nothing  seems  able  to  produce  it.  Perhaps  no 
authenticated  relation  will  do  so  much  to  tranquillize  a  woman,  at 
this  time,  as  that  of  the  native  in  Bombay,  who,  when  far  advanced 
in  her  term,  was  knocked  down  in  the  street  by  an  English  physician's 
horse  and  run  over  by  the  wheel  of  his  carriage.  His  interest  and 
fears  followed  her  case  and  to  his  wonder  everything  went  on  as 
though  nothing  had  happened. 

Exercise  and  work  have  other  excellent  reasons  to  be  practised. 
Of  a  moderate  kind,  they  are  essential  to  the  welfare  of  both  mother 
and  child.  By  such  means  the  woman's  constitution  is  kept  up  and 
through  it  the  child's  also.  Malformation  in  the  child  or  unusual 
presentation  at  birth  becomes  less  likely.  The  muscles  of  the  woman 
are  kept  in  better  tone  and  the  birth  will  be  shorter  and  easier,  and 


156  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

the  recovery  of  the  woman  prompter,  than  if  useful  outdoor  exercise 
had  not  been  had. 

As  a  rule,  pregnant  women  have  an  instinctive  desire  to  seek 
seclusion.  It  is  a  useful  safeguard  within  proper  limits.  This  feel- 
ing protects  women  in  this  interesting  condition  from  the  risks  and 
dangers  which  a  general  participation  in  the  outside  activities  of  life 
would  incur.  Thus,  they  avoid  balls,  crowds,  travelling,  etc.  This 
is  good.  Amongst  civilized  women,  however,  the  instinct  often 
induces  to  a  morbid  avoidance  of  all  outdoor  life  and  of  social  recrea- 
tion of  any  kind.  A  pregnant  women  should  be  encouraged  to  visit 
her  friends,  to  take  reasonable  social  recreation,  and  to  maintain  quiet 
outdoor  life  and  interest  up  to  the  latest  possible  period.  A  woman 
mewed  up  alone  in  this  condition  tends  to  a  dwelling  upon  dangers 
she  imagines,  to  a  nursing  of  customary  symptoms  into  disease,  to 
abnormal  fancies  and  to  magnifying  minor  troubles  into  a  real  suffer- 
ing. Therefore,  while  appreciating  the  fundamental  advantage  of 
the  instinct  for  seclusion,  its  abuse  should  be  carefullj^  warded  off. 
If  no  other  ill  happens,  such  excess  of  seclusion  will  make  the 
woman's  life  so  much  a  burden  by  loneliness  and  deprivation  of  cus- 
tomary resources  that  she  will  dread  pregnancy.  Thus  must  grow 
a  feeling  antagonistic  to  the  family  and  to  its  immortality.  The 
benefit  of  the  doubt  should  be  given  toward  doing  too  much  rather 
than  doing  too  little. 

The  retiring  disposition  of  women,  when  pregnant,  is  most  promi- 
nent in  cities.  In  city  life  such  feeling  must  be  accentuated  both 
through  the  number  of  persons  the  woman  meets  when  out,  and 
also  by  the  general  attitude  of  antagonism  to  childbirth  in  our 
Sodoms  and  Gk)morrahs.  From  these  facts,  it  will  be  seen  that  a 
country  life  is  an  essential  to  the  mother  of  a  family,  both  as  to  her 
health  and  comfort  and  as  to  that  of  the  children  she  bears.  It 
must  be  said,  however,  that  city  women  walk  more,  as  a  general 
rule,  than  do  country  ones.  Shopping  and  gadding  about  the 
streets  is  doubtless  a  cause  of  a  good  deal  of  exercise  to  these 
women.  The  woman  in  the  country  is  not  from  that  fact  alone 
living  a  healthy  life.  She  must  have  a  useful  occupation.  Exer- 
cise for  health  is  so  monotonous  that  it  is  rarely  long  continued.  It 
may  be  helped  by  games,  but  utility  or  object  is  that  alone  upon  which 
the  parturient  woman  must  rely  to  keep  up  a  good  muscular  and 
mental  condition  of  the  system.  City  life  is  objectionable  from 
another  point  of  view,  and  that  is,  that  it  is  in  all  probability  exter- 
minating to  the  race  as  it  is  now  constituted.  Children  in  the 
country  have  a  great  advantage  over  those  in  the  city,  physically, 
mentally,  and  morally.    On  account  of  the  earlier  sexual  develop- 


The  Child,  157 

ment  of  city-reared  children,  I  was  under  the  impression  that  there 
would  also  be  a  mental  precocity  among  them.  On  an  investigation 
of  this  subject  I  find  that  this  is  not  the  case.  All  the  teachers  I 
have  questioned,  with  city  and  country  experience,  state  to  me  that, 
at  the  same  age,  children  in  the  country  have  a  better  and  stronger 
brain  development  than  those  in  the  city.  The  risks  of  disease,  such 
as  puerperal  fever  in  the  mother  and  the  diseases  of  childhood  in  the 
babes  are  much  reduced  in  the  country. 

The  diet  of  the  mother  should  be  nutritious  and  easy  of  digestion.' 
The  common  idea  that  she  should  eat  for  two  is  a  mistake.  Her 
appetite  when  eating  slowly  will  be  a  safe  guide  in  a  great  majority 
of  cases  for  the  quantity  of  food.  Certain  cravings  frequently  occur 
at  this  time.  When  there  is  nothing  clearly  harmful  in  them  they 
should  be  gratified. 

Inconveniences  of  various  kinds  often  occur  to  women  during 
gestation, — morning  sickness,  constipation,  etc.  Considerable  fruit  in 
the  diet  seems  beneficial  in  both  these  cases.  When  such  troubles 
become  serious  and  afiect  the  health  of  the  mother,  or  endanger  the 
carrying  of  the  child,  a  physician  must  be  called. 

The  situation  of  the  house  is  important.  It  should  be  sunny, 
well  drained,  accessible  to  pure  water,  and  the  soil  under  it  healthy. 
The  drinking-water  and  drainage  should  be  examined  with  special 
care.  Drinking-water  is  a  general  means  for  the  maintenance  and 
diflfusion  of  certain  disease  germs.  Well  water  is  always  dangerous, 
and  river  water,  in  a  settled  country  where  the  domestic  drainage 
and  refuse  of  the  population  is  certain  to  more  or  less  pollute  it,  is 
also  to  be  avoided.  All  water  for  drinking  should  be  boiled  before- 
hand for  the  purpose  of  killing  any  germs  or  parasitic  life  it  may 
contain.  This  rule  should  only  be  relaxed  when  the  source  of 
supply  and  its  watershed  are  thoroughly  known. 

In  a  dry  country,  where  the  waters  are  heavily  charged  with 
alkalies,  some  provision  of  rain  water  or  distilled  water  should  be 
made,  especially  where  the  individual  tendency  is  toward  the  forma- 
tion of  calculi.  The  importance  of  care  with  drinking-water  is 
shown  by  the  study  of  epidemics.  The  typhoid-fever  epidemic  at 
Plymouth,  Pa.,  was  directly  traced  to  one  case  on  the  bank  of  the 
stream  supplying  the  town  with  water.  Very  many  sufferers  and  a 
large  number  of  deaths  were  the  result  of  this  epidemic. 

Recently  the  chronic  cholera  prevailing  at  the  Takashima  Coal 
Mines,  Japan,  has  been  completely  stopped  by  the  substitution  of 
distilled  water  for  that  brought  from  the  mainland,  while  the  islands 

^  See  Chapter  on  Treatment  of  Wife. 


158  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

about,  using  the  old  supply,  still  continue  to  be  devastated  by  this 
fell  disease. 

The  Chinese  city  of  Canton  is  on  a  nearly  level  plain.  It  has  no 
system  of  sewerage.  The  refuse  water  and  filth  flow  off  in  shallow 
drains  in  the  middle  of  the  streets  with  slabs  of  stone  over  them. 
Part  of  the  time  even  these  are  choked  up.  The  dimg  and  urine, 
however,  are  to  a  great  extent  taken  away  as  fertilizers.  The  water 
supply  of  this  great  and  filthy  city  is  derived  from  wells  four  to 
fifteen  feet  in  depth.  The  comparative  healthiness  of  Canton  must 
be  attributed  to  the  practice  of  drinking  only  boiled  water,  as  in  tea. 
Villages  are  not  as  desirable  as  the  country,  plain  and  simple. 

Around  the  woman  objects  of  beauty  should  be  placed  and  also 
things  that  will  lead  to  high  thoughts  of  heroic  deeds  and  great  per- 
formances. The  books  read  should  also  be  of  superior  character. 
In  the  courts  of  Europe,  amongst  the  ruling  families,  where  the  wel- 
fare of  the  children  to  be  born,  who  will  become  nobles  and  kings, 
is  much  considered,  the  rooms  of  lying-in  women  are  carefully 
arranged.  Beautiful  pictures,  statues,  and  works  of  art  adorn  the 
chambers,  and  the  mental  condition  of  the  wife  is  much  looked  after 
at  this  time.  The  story  of  Jacob  and  I^aban  shows  that  the  sur- 
roundings of  animals,  as  they  conceive,  were  recognized  as  important 
in  ancient  times.  Jacob  and  Laban  made  a  bargain  that  for  certain 
services  Jacob  was  to  receive  the  parti-colored  animals  of  the  flocks 
and  herds.  Jacob  then  placed  before  the  stronger  animals  at  the 
watering-places  streaked  stakes,  so  that  these  animals  should  con- 
ceive among  them.  The  story  goes  that  he  waxed  rich  by  this 
arrangement.  The  strong  animals,  owing  to  their  environment, 
produced  a  large  proportion  of  parti-colored  young.  We  suppose, 
too,  that  the  frequent  resemblance  that  insects  and  animals  bear  to 
their  surroundings  is  not  only  a  survival  of  the  fittest  and  a  result 
of  natural  selection,  but  also  a  tendency  of  life  in  reproduction  to 
be  impressed  by  the  conditions  under  which  conception  takes  place. 
There  is  a  general  opinion  that  sudden  frights,  impressive  events, 
and,  in  general,  unusual  circumstances  or  sights  experienced  or  seen 
by  pregnant  women  may  influence  the  character  or  appearance  of 
the  child  in  utero.  This  opinion  has  sufficient  support  to  warrant 
attention.    The  following  is  one  of  many  cases  that  might  be  cited  : 

CIRCUMCISED  BY  A  MATERNAL  IMPRESSION. 

Dr.  John  G.  Harvey,  of  Blue  Mound,  111.,  relates  the  following :  "On 
August  II,  1884,  I  performed  the  operation  of  circumcision  on  a  boy,  three 
years  of  age,  for  the  relief  of  a  nervous  trouble.  On  March  31,  1885,  just  seven 
months  and  twenty  days  later,  his  mother  gave  birth  to  a  boy  who  was  as  per- 


The  Child,  159 

fectly  circumcised  as  the  child  upon  whom  I  had  operated  ;  even  the  scars 
from  the  sutures  were  reproduced  in  the  exact  numbers  and  location  of  those 
on  the  organ  of  the  boy  upon  whom  I  had  operated." — Medical  Record^ 
Nov.  3,  1888. 

PRE-NATAIv  CIRCUMCISION. 

To  THE  Editor  of  thb  Medical  Record. 

Sir— In  the  Medical  Record  of  November  3,  1888,  page  535,  I  reported  a 
case  of  circumcision  by  maternal  impression. 

In  the  Medical  Record,  of  December  15,  1888,  Dr.  M.  G.  Lowrey,  of  Boulder, 
Col.,  thinks  the  case  of  so  much  importance  to  the  profession  that  it  should  be 
established  beyond  question.  I  therefore  enclose  the  certificate  of  Dr.  R. 
Tobey,  who  assisted  me  in  the  operation  and  afterward  attended  the  mother  in 
confinement. 

I  do  not  propose  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  on  a  scientific  basis,  but 

can  furnish  the  doctor  and  the  professor   with  indisputable  evidence  as  to 

the  facts. 

J.  G.  Harvey,  A.M.,  M.D. 

Blue  Mound,  111.,  February  10,  1889. 

[Copy.] 

I  hereby  certify  that  I  assisted  Dr.  Harvey  in  circumcising  the  son  of  Mr. 

S ,  as  reported  in  the  Medical  Record  of  November  3,  1888,  and  that  I 

attended  his  mother  in  confinement  on  March  31,  1885,  just  seven  months  and 
twenty  days  after  the  operation,  at  which  time  she  was  delivered  of  a  male 
child,  which  was  perfectly  circumcised,  and  presented  exactly  the  appearance 
of  having  been  circumcised  in  the  same  manner  as  the  boy  previously  operated 
upon,  even  showing  the  marks  of  each  suture. 

R.  Tobey,  M.D. 

Macon,  111.,  February  10,  1889.  -— 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  similar  record  of  pre-natal  circum- 
cision amongst  the  Jews.  The  long-established  custom  of  the  Jews 
would  doubtless  tend  to  prevent  the  performance  of  circumcision 
from  so  much  affecting  a  Jewish  mother. 

If  the  extraordinary  has  such  influence  in  one  event,  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  every-day  and  oft  repeated  events  of  a 
mother's  life  must  influence  the  life  of  the  child.  Some  physicians 
think  that  it  is  not  so  much  some  particular  event  that  influences  the 
child  in  utero,  as  it  is  the  mother's  dwelling  on  the  event,  or  dreading 
its  effect  on  the  child,  that  is  Hkely  to  influence  it.  A  number  of 
cases  have  been  collected  to  sustain  this  point.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  maternal  dread  of  an  evil  influence  on  a  child  in  utero 
would  tend  to  produce  the  effect  dreaded,  or  by  the  nervousness 
induced  lower  the  child's  vitality.  The  mother,  therefore,  should  be 
informed  of  these  tendencies.     Some  physicians  deem  influence  of 


1 60  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

events  in  the  mother's  life  to  be  without  effect  on  the  child  in  utero. 
The  weight  of  testimony  and  the  general  indications  of  nature  in 
evolution  and  development  indicate  some  effects  as  being  produced 
by  circumstances  occurring  during  gestation. 

As  poor  food  for  the  body  taken  by  the  mother  will  weaken  the 
constitution  of  the  child,  so  poor  food  for  the  mother's  mind  will  be 
likely  to  affect  the  capacities  of  her  child,  and  so  the  probability 
extends  to  all  things  entering  into  the  mother's  life. 

Dr.  Wm.  Hunter,  of  Kngland,  undertook  a  scientific  examination 
into  the  effects  upon  the  child  in  utero  of  circumstances  or  shocks 
occurring  in  the  life  of  the  mother.  He  questioned  two  thousand 
mothers  immediately  after  delivery  as  to  influences  that  they  could 
think  of  as  likely  to  affect  the  appearance  of  the  child  that  occurred 
during  gestation.  He  then  examined  the  child,  and  in  no  case  found 
any  correspondence  or  connection  in  the  condition  of  the  child  with 
the  circumstances  related.  He  found  marks  where  nothing  gave 
expectation  of  them,  and  found  none  where  severe  shocks  and  fright 
had  been  experienced. 

While  this  physician's  testimony  will  not  entirely  overthrow  other 
contrary  testimony,  it  must  lend  a  color  to  the  opinion  that  some  of 
the  authenticated  cases  of  birth-marks  corresponding  with  maternal 
impressions  might  be  due  to  an  accidental  concatenation  of  circum- 
stances rather  than  to  a  real  impression  upon  the  foetus  through  the 
mother.  At  least,  such  extreme  views  as  those  of  Mrs.  Kirby  and  Mrs. 
Farnham  are  not  sustained.  Were  their  views  correct  as  to  the  over- 
powering influence  of  the  life  and  thought  of  the  mother,  while  preg- 
nant, upon  the  child,  we  should  find  it  impossible  to  account  for  the 
frequent  preponderance  of  the  father's  physique  and  character  in  the 
child  except  upon  the  hypothesis  that  the  mother  herself  is  continu- 
ally impressed  by  the  father.  As  the  mother  might  be  equally  or 
more  impressed  by  other  men,  and  as  children  are  not  observed  to 
resemble  those  about  the  mother  in  moral  families,  this  hypothesis 
will  not  help  us  to  avoid  the  difiiculty. 

Galton,  in  tracing  out  the  parental  influences  upon  eminent  men, 
finds  that  the  father's  is  more  often  noticed  in  all  pursuits  except 
that  of  the  divine.  In  that  occupation  alone  does  the  influence  of 
the  mother  preponderate.  Galton' s  figures  are  as  follows  :  In  100 
cases  of  judges,  statesmen,  commanders,  men  of  literature  or  men  of 
science,  70  are  found  to  derive  their  talent  mainly  from  the  father 
and  30  mainly  from  the  mother.  In  100  poets,  94  will  be  found  to 
derive  their  talents  mainly  from  the  father  and  6  only  from  the 
mother.  In  100  artists,  85  have  their  talents  from  the  father  and 
15   from  the  mother.      In  100  religious  teachers  these  proportions 


The  Child,  i6i 

are  reversed,  and  the  ratio  is  73  to  27  in  favor  of  the  mother.  In 
musicians  the  talent  comes  very  rarely  through  the  female  line, — in 
the  wonderful  Bach  family,  for  instance,  not  in  a  single  instance. 
Oalton's  figures,  however,  are  considered  by  him  as  more  likely  to 
•err  against  the  influence  of  the  mother  than  for  it  on  account  of  the 
difiiculty  of  tracing  the  female  line.  He  finds  as  the  degrees  of 
relationship  are  removed  that  the  female  influence  rapidly  weakens, 
perhaps  largely  due  to  the  cause  named.  For  instance,  of  kinships  of 
eminent  men  in  the  second  degree  he  finds  41  through  the  male  line 
and  19  through  the  female ;  in  the  third  degree  he  finds  19  kin- 
ships through  the  male  and  i  only  through  the  female.  Galton 
also  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  male  qualities  not  visibly  pos- 
sessed by  the  mother  may  still  be  transmitted  through  her. 

Dr.  H.  R.  Storer  states  that  hereditary  insanity  flows  more  com- 
monly from  the  father  than  from  the  mother.  A  child  with  an 
insane  mother,  therefore,  is  more  apt  to  escape  the  taint  than  one 
with  an  insane  father.  He  states  the  same  thing  as  true  in  regard  to 
liereditary  alcoholism. 

Fournier  shows  that  there  are  numerous  cases  of  women  infected 
through  the  foetus  with  syphilis  ;  the  father  being  in  the  non-con- 
tagious stages  of  the  disease  at  the  time  of  conception,  and  the 
mother  never  having  had  the  initial  lesions.  So  also  children  have 
l)een  born  with  constitutional  syphilis,  though  the  mother  had  never 
suffered  from  it,  the  disease  coming  from  the  father.  Two  cases 
liave  recently  been  reported  from  Scotland  by  Dr.  Felkin,  of  Edin- 
burgh, where  the  foetus  suffered  distinct  intermittent  malarial  chills 
in  utero  and  where  the  infants  were  bom  with  enlarged  spleens.  In 
the  first  case  the  child  had  seven  chills  after  birth,  but  recovered. 
In  the  second  case  the  child  had  two  chills,  the  first  followed  by 
fever,  temp.  102°;  it  died  in  the  cold  stage  of  the  second  attack, 
twenty-four  hours  after  the  first.  In  neither  case  was  the  residence 
malarious.  In  neither  case  had  the  mother  ever  had  malaria.  In 
l)oth  cases  the  husbands  were  suffering  at  the  time  of  conception 
with  severe  malaria  contracted  abroad. 

On  the  other  hand,  according  to  Galton  (natural  inheritance), 
consumption  is  nearly  always  inherited  from  the  mother ;  that  is,  a 
child  with  a  consumptive  father  has  a  good  chance  to  escape  the 
malady,  while  the  chance  for  a  child  with  a  consumptive  mother  to 
escape  is  poor.  It  may  in  this  case  be  reasonably  supposed  that  the 
almost  inevitable  intimacy  of  mother  and  child  might  infect  the  child 
with  the  mother's  disease  after  the  birth  of  the  child. 

We  cannot  reconcile  these  results  with  a  preponderating  influence 
of  pre-natal  surroundings  or  occurrences  upon  the  mother.     It  is, 


1 62  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

however,  certain  that  every  circumstance  in  our  Hves  previous  to  the 
creation  of  a  child  will,  to  some  extent,  influence  that  child,  and  we 
may  well  suppose  that  circumstances  immediately  previous  to  con- 
ception are  more  influential  upon  the  child  than  remote  occurrences 
of  equal  importance. 

It  would  seem  upon  the  whole  that  circumstances  of  life  in  the 
father  and  mother  immediately  previous  to  or  at  conception  are  those 
most  likely  to  impress  the  type  of  the  offspring.  In  evolution  it  is 
pretty  well  demonstrated  that  the  parent  has  the  power  to  impress 
its  progeny  with  a  tendency  to  vary  towards  a  harmony  with  sur- 
rounding conditions.  At  any  rate,  we  observe  that  the  seed  of 
wheat  grown  in  the  north  for  several  seasons  will  mature  earlier 
when  planted  in  the  south  than  seed  from  wheat  grown  in  the 
locality.  So,  also,  the  northern  seed  will  stand  frost  the  best. 
Farmers  avail  themselves  of  these  tendencies  in  seeds  for  their  own 
benefit.  So,  also,  with  trees  having  a  wide  range  of  habitat,  we 
observe  that  the  seeds  produced  by  individuals  in  the  extremes  of  a 
tree's  range  will  give  seedlings  in  each  case  better  adapted  to  the 
locality  where  produced,  than  the  seed  from  the  same  kind  of  tree  in 
the  other  extreme  of  its  habitat.  The  same  thing  will  help  us  to 
account  for  such  comparatively  rapid  changes  in  man  as  that  diver- 
gence of  type  found  in  the  American  descendant  of  the  English 
Puritans. 

Geoffroy  Saint- Hilaire  shows  that  monstrosities  in  the  foetus  are 
recognizable  very  early  in  gestation.  M.  Dareste's  investigations 
confirm  this  fact,  which  indicates  that  monstrosities  are  probably 
such  from  the  very  moment  of  fertilization.  On  the  other  hand, 
Flourens  produced  red  coloring  in  the  bones  of  the  foetus  of  a  female 
mammal  by  feeding  madder,  and  Coste's  experiments  with  salmon 
trout  showed  that  the  eggs  when  placed  in  water  where  only  the 
white  trout  lived  became  pale  and  the  fish  lost  their  red  color. 
These  facts  indicate  a  great  influence  upon  the  still  unborn  by  the 
stUToundings  of  their  gestation.  We  should,  therefore,  do  all  that 
is  reasonably  possible  to  have  the  circumstances  surrounding  con- 
ception and  gestation  of  the  most  favorable  kind.  Healthy,  beautiful, 
moral,  and  improving  surroundings  are  of  great  importance  to  the 
parturient  woman,  for  the  conditions  of  life  of  the  woman  will,  of 
necessity,  impress  the  child  indirectly  if  not  directly.  It  is  not 
demonstrated,  as  yet,  that  environment  affects  the  foetus,  still  there  is 
sufficient  ground  for  such  an  opinion  to  warrant  the  precautions 
suggested. 

Work  is  of  great  value  to  the  child  when  performed  by  the 
woman  before  its  birth,  therefore  we  may  repeat  the  advice  that  a 


The  Child.  i6 


o 


wife  should  always  have  some  useful  occupation  or  occupations  in 
which  she  will  be  employed  before  conception,  to  gain  the  habit  of 
work,  and  to  make  it  safe  after  conception,  during  which  time  she 
will  continue  the  work  to  secure  an  easy  labor  and  prompt  recovery. 
The  main  object  of  this  course  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  child's  physi- 
cal and  moral  strength.  Work  prevents  feelings  of  loneliness,  dis- 
content, and  the  abnormal  development  of  passion.  It  is  a  great 
safeguard  to  the  woman,  and  cannot  but  be  beneficial  in  its  influence 
upon  the  character  and  constitution  of  the  conceived  but  unborn  child. 

Birth  is  the  time  from  which,  by  a  convenient  convention,  we  date 
the  individual  life  of  each  human  being.  It  is  indeed  an  important 
moment.  The  mother  at  this  time  should  be  in  a  sunny  and  well- 
ventilated  apartment  and  at  home.  No  stationary  drain  pipe  or  wash 
basin  should  be  in  the  room.  If  it  seems  impossible  to  avoid  this, 
close  any  such  breeding-place  and  highway  of  disease  tightly,  by 
means  of  corks.  Stationary  wash-stands  are  ugly  and  dangerous. 
The  best  4)lumbing  I  have  seen  will  not  make  them  thoroughly  safe. 
Their  dangers  are  out  of  sight  and  often  odorless.  Traps,  which  are 
relied  on,  with  pipe  ventilation,  to  prevent  sewer  gas  from  coming 
into  the  room,  do  not  wholly  shut  it  ofi";  and,  besides,  it  requires 
but  a  short  length  of  pipe  to  produce  gases,  which,  if  not  filled  with 
disease  germs,  still  'SO  lower  the  general  vitality  of  a  person  long 
exposed  to  them  as  to  render  the  individual  less  able  to  resist  a 
shock  of  nature  or  to  overcome  disease  germs  introduced  in  other 
ways.  The  long  and  close  confinement  of  mother  and  child  after 
labor  causes  the  condition  of  the  indoor  air  to  be  a  matter  of  special 
importance. 

A  quiet  and  reliable  midwife  should  be  employed.  Great  care 
should  be  exercised  in  such  a  selection.  In  case  the  means  of  the 
family  render  such  professional  aid  impossible,  a  relative  or  friend 
may  be  secured  to  help  the  mother.  A  good  and  experienced  phy- 
sician should  be  in  attendance  to  render  aid  should  nature  seem 
incapable  of  completing  the  task. 

Anaesthetics  are  used  a  great  deal  in  labor.  How  far  the  weak- 
ness of  civilized  women  may  make  this  advisable  it  is  difl&cult  to  say, 
but  a  common-sense  view  points  strongly  to  the  propriety  of  a  much 
lessened  use  of  this  practice.  Chloroform  and  its  allies,  from  the 
information  at  my  command  and  as  usually  given— that  is,  before  the 
extreme  pain  of  expulsion — lengthen  labor,  cause  the  pains  to  come 
more  slowly,  increase  the  danger  of  post-partum  hemorrhage,  and 
delay  recovery.  On  the  other  hand,  by  their  use  the  supreme  pains 
of  delivery  at  the  close  of  the  third  stage  are  passed  in  unconscious- 
ness or  semi-consciousness.      The  administration  of  chloroform  in  a 


1 64  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

judicious  manner  is  not  accompanied  by  danger  ;  only  one  death  is 
on  reliable  record  of  a  woman  in  labor  under  the  influence  of  chloro- 
form. When,  however,  an  excessive  amount  is  given  prematurely, 
and  say  to  the  point  of  muscular  relaxation,  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  chloroform  does  not  in  a  secondary  way  cause  death  to  the 
mother  or  to  the  child  in  numerous  cases,  although  the  death  of  the 
mother  does  not  take  place  under  the  influence  of  the  anaesthetic. 

Indirectly  chloroform  may  advance  the  interests  of  the  family  by 
encouraging  women,  otherwise  too  fearful  of  the  labor  pains,  to  bear 
children.  Anaesthetics  in  labor  on  many  occasions  are  invaluable. 
The  use  of  these  agents  is  probably  now  abused.  The  bad  efiects  of 
chloroform  arise  largely  from  its  use  prematurely  in  labor.  It  should 
in  almost  all  cases  be  confined  to  the  last  and  supreme  pains  which 
expel  the  child.  These  it  mitigates.  In  the  primipara  the  perineum 
is  liable  to  laceration  and  especially  so  in  the  case  of  strong,  athletic, 
high- type  women. 

Chloroform  properly  applied  is  deemed  a  preventive  of  this. 
Its  action,  if  favorable,  is  probably  accomplished  by  a  general  relaxa- 
tion and  by  a  diminution  of  the  co-operation  in  expulsion  of  the 
voluntary  muscles. 

This  subject  is  worthy  of  careful  study.  The  weight  of  medical 
testimony  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  use  of  chloroform  at  the  proper 
time  in  childbirth  when  indicated.  The  most  phenomenally  suc- 
cessful obstetrician  whose  record  I  am  acquainted  with.  Dr.  Henry 
Worthington  of  lyos  Angeles,  Cal. ,  never  uses  an  anaesthetic  when 
he  can  avoid  it.  Chloroform  should  in  no  case  be  given  by  gaslight. 
It  combines  with  gas  and  forms  an  irrespirable  vapor,  C.O.CP. 
A  number  of  fatal  results  in  general  hospital  practice  have  been 
noted  recently  as  due  to  this  cause.  It  is  well  to  have  chloroform 
together  with  forceps,  scissors,  catheter,  thread  to  tie  the  severed 
cord,  etc. ,  ready  at  hand  to  use  if  required. 

The  occasional  benefit  of  chloroform  and  similar  drugs  in  labor 
may  have  for  its  cause  the  simulation  of  death  by  certain  of  the 
nerve  centres.  We  know  that  in  trees,  plants,  and  animals  there  is 
often  noticed  a  desperate  attempt  at  reproduction  when  by  a  wound 
or  otherwise  death  threatens  ;  and  this  too  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  attempt  to  live  on  in  a  new  generation  hastens  the  death  of  the 
individual.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  pruning  fruit  trees,  and  is  at 
the  bottom  of  the  extraordinary  numbers  of  oranges  and  other  fruits 
frequently  seen  on  trees  wounded  to  death  by  gophers  or  by  other 
means. 

Judging  by  analogy  one  would  be  justified  in  concluding  that 
any  such  disarrangement  of  nature's  work  in  healthy  human  indi- 


The  Child,  165 

viduals  could  not  generally  be  productive  of  good.  For  the  advan- 
tage of  pruning  is  where  the  tree  goes  to  wood,  not  to  fruit,  and  the 
wound  awakens  the  dormant  reproductive  powers,  or  redundant 
fruit  is  cut  off  to  allow  a  greater  perfection  to  what  is  left.  Some 
procedure  of  this  kind  might  be  appropriate  with  the  sterile  man  or 
woman,  but  it  could  be  of  no  advantage  to  the  woman  fertilized  and 
carrying  one  child. 

Anaesthetics  in  general  practice  are  dangerous  in  heart  troubles, 
kidney  complications,  and  to  some  nervous  conditions.  They  occa- 
sionally produce  effects  opposite  to  those  expected.  Chloroform  is 
the  best  agent  to  produce  unconsciousness  in  labor  and  is  most  com- 
monly used  ;  but  ether  is  deemed  the  safest  of  the  anaesthetics. 
While  this  drug  is  not  often  used  in  labor,  something  may  be  said 
about  its  effects  now  that  anaesthetics  are  under  discussion. 

Dr.  Robert  F.  Weir  has  recently  shown  from  the  records  of  the 
New  York  Hospital  that  there  is  one  death  under  ether  in  two  thou- 
sand cases.  This  is  not  considerable,  but  this  agent,  like  its  con- 
geners, adds  to  the  shock  of  an  operation,  and,  it  must  be  presumed, 
prevents  recoveries  that  would  have  been  secure  without  its  use.  It 
may  be  said  here  that  the  method  of  inducing  etherization  should  be 
gentle  and  gradual ;  ten  minutes  will  complete  the  work. 

The  sudden  or  drenching  method  is  not  productive  of  the  best 
results.  Ether  is  much  more  dangerous  in  kidney  troubles  than 
chloroform.  It  is  also  inflammable,  having  been  known  to  ignite 
fifteen  feet  from  a  flame. 

The  clover  inhaler  does  away  with  many  of  the  drawbacks  of 
ether.  Its  advantages  may  be  summarized  by  saying  that  it  reduces 
the  time  required  for  producing  anaesthesia  to  from  one  to  two  min- 
utes ;  when  properly  used  does  away  with  struggling  and  uncon- 
scious resistance  of  the  patient,  prevents  the  dangerous  chill  to  the 
air  passages  unavoidable  in  the  old  methods,  and  consequently 
obviates  the  old  bronchial  irritations  which  were  sometimes  fatal. 
The  advantages  of  this  inhaler  are  so  great  that  it  is  indeed  strange 
that  it  has  not  come  into  general  use. 

The  most  recent  formalization  of  the  use  of  anaesthetics  in  surgery 
is  the  following : 

Dr.  Kocher  has  been  led  by  his  researches  upon  the  comparative  advan- 
tages of  ether  and  chloroform  to  formulate  the  following  conclusions  :  i.  Be- 
fore proceeding  to  general  anaesthesia,  it  is  indispensable  to  examine  the 
patient  thoroughly  and  submit  him  to  preliminary  treatment.  2.  It  is  useful, 
and  even  necessary  in  many  patients,  to  stimulate  the  heart's  activity  by  the 
administration  of  alcohol  or  other  stimulant  (tea)  before  proceeding  to  anaes- 
thesia.    3.     The  patient  should  be  put  to  sleep  only  when  in  the  horizontal 


1 66  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

position.  4.  When  the  subject  has  not  been  properly  prepared  beforehand, 
chloroform  should  never  be  employed.  5.  When  the  subject  is  affected  with 
heart  disease,  or  with  any  functional  cardiac  affection  with  accompanying  im- 
plication on  the  part  of  the  respiratory  organs,  ether  should  be  preferred  to 
chloroform.  6.  The  opposite  course  is  necessary  when  an  affection  of  the 
respiratory  tract  is  present  with  hyperaemia  of  the  tracheo-bronchial  mucous 
membrane.  7.  When  the  anaesthetic  sleep  is  to  be  prolonged  for  a  relatively 
long  period,  chloroform  should  be  used  first  and  then  ether  administered  in 
small  quantities  to  keep  up  the  anaesthesia.  8.  Chloroform  should  never  be 
given  mixed  with  a  large  proportion  of  air ;  during  the  whole  duration  of 
anaesthesia  fresh  air  should,  however,  be  admitted  freely  to  the  respiratory 
passages  of  the  subject.  9.  For  long  operations,  or  for  one  reason  or  another, 
the  use  of  ether  seems  to  be  contra-indicated,  a  preliminary  injection  of  mor- 
phine or  morphine  and  atropine  should  be  made,  so  as  to  restrict  as  much  as 
possible  the  quantity  of  chloroform  necessary  to  secure  anaesthesia  of  suffi- 
ciently long  duration. — Gazette  Mkdicale  de  Paris,  October  17,  1891. 

The  after-effects  of  ether,  the  safest  of  the  anaesthetics,  are  often 
one  or  more  of  the  following  :  inflammation  of  the  bronchial  tubes, 
headache,  suppression  of  urine,  choreic  symptoms,  and  temporary 
insanity.  One  case  is  on  record  of  a  patient  who  remained  insane 
after  etherization  for  four  days.  Sometimes  nervous  symptoms  com- 
mencing immediately  after  taking  ether  persist  through  life.  When 
we  consider  that  recovery  is  retarded  and  that  more  or  less  discom- 
fort generally,  and  actual  danger  frequently,  is  the  result  of  the  use 
of  even  the  safest  anaesthetics,  it  may  not  seem  unreasonable  to  lay 
down  the  following  rule  for  the  application  of  these  agents  : 

The  security  of  the  surgeon  in  completing  an  operation  doubtful 
if  the  patient  could  move  or  resist ;  the  security  of  the  surgeon  in 
doing  the  work  thoroughly  ;  the  security  of  the  patient  against 
injury  or  failure  through  his  own  incapacity  to  control  his  muscles, 
especially  the  voluntary.  These  are  the  certain  indications  for 
anaesthetics  physically,  Policy  will  induce  us  to  use  them  at  times 
when  they  are  not  physically  necessary.  The  most  sensititve 
nerves  are  on  the  surface  in  man.  The  interior  of  the  body  is  but 
slightly  sensitive  and  it  is  probable  that  in  actual  suffering  there  is 
less  saved  by  the  use  of  anaesthetics  than  they  cause. 

It  must  of  course  be  understood  that  in  many  surgical  operations 
the  involuntary  contraction  of  the  muscles  would  prevent  success 
were  the  patient  conscious;  consequently  in -such  cases  the  anaes- 
thetic is  absolutely  essential. 

Prof.  T.  G.  Thomas  says  that  labor  is,  as  a  rule,  and  in  a  great 
majority  of  cases,  a  normal  physiological  process  and  requires  no 
treatment  whatever  by  drugs.  The  most  rapid  increase  of  popula- 
tion by  birth-rate  alone  has  always  been  in  country  districts,  and 


The  Child,  iby 

especially  in  pioneer  communities  such  as  those  founded  by  the 
early  settlers  of  North  America  of  both  English  and  French  stock. 
In  those  early  times  little  indeed  was  known  of  gynecology  or  ob- 
stetrics, and  such  knowledge  as  existed  was  unavailable  for  the 
^ekt  mass  of  mothers. 

Such  well  authenticated  cases  of  mothers  passing  through  labor 
with  safety  to  themselves  and  to  their  children  without  the  new 
knowledge  as  our  first  settlements  offer,  and  the  failure  of  the  medi- 
cal men  to  make  any  radical  improvement  in  the  death-rate  per  birth 
outside  of  maternity  hospitals,  show  that  much  of  the  present 
method  may  be  superfluous  if  not  positively  harmful. 

The  ^6^k  Registration  Report  of  Massachusetts  {i^S'j)  shows  the 
:general  death-rate  of  the  population  without  special  epidemics  to  have 
been  20.28  in  1,000.  This  is  higher  than  it  was  in  the  previous 
twelve  years,  and  higher  than  between  1850  and  1862.  This  indi- 
cates a  sanitary  retrogression  instead  of  advance,  and  incidentally 
sustains  the  point  on  death-rate  of  women  in  delivery. 

The  population  of  Massachusetts,  however,  is  now  more  crowded 
and  lives  under  much  changed  conditions  probably  less  favorable  to 
health,  and  it  must  also  be  remarked  that  the  birth-rate  of  the  State 
has  decreased  with  the  increased  death-rate.  These  facts  also  inci- 
dentally show  that  the  avoidance  of  childbirth  diminishes  the 
prospect  of  life. 

Certain  drugs  have  at  times  and  in  particular  cases  been  found 
advantageous  in  labor.  From  such  cases  the  formalism  and  devo- 
tion to  tradition  that  more  or  less  creep  into  every  trade  and  pro- 
fession have  propagated  and  made  general  the  use  of  these  drugs 
and  procedures.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  amongst  many  phy- 
sicians this  mechanical  and  blind  traditional  treatment  of  labor  is 
not  unusual. 

I  have  been  present  at  but  a  small  number  of  labors,  but  what  I 
have  seen  strongly  prejudices  me  against  anaesthetics.  In  my  limi- 
ted experience  with  anaesthetics  the  labor  appeared  to  be  delayed, 
the  child's  life  proportionately  endangered,  subsequent  hemorrhage 
in  mother  made  more  probable,  and  the  mother  generally  left  after 
the  labor  in  a  condition  of  half  sickness  which  I  have  known  to  last 
for  a  considerable  time.  On  the  whole  I  am  opposed  to  these  agents 
and  as  far  as  labor  is  concerned  advise  avoiding  them. 

The  agent  of  an  anatomical  manikin  of  considerable  merit,  Dr. 
Henry  F.  Frisius,  who  in  the  course  of  his  business  has  visited  a 
vast  number  of  physicians,  tells  me  that  only  about  one  in  a  hundred 
of  these  retain  more  than  a  smattering  of  anatomy  and  physiology. 
This  gentleman  is  a  good  anatomist  himself  and  a  very  intelligent 


1 68  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

man.  We  may  reasonably  surmise  from  this  information  that  a 
great  number  of  physicians  are  equally  ignorant  upon  other  vital 
matters.  Consequently  it  is  not  at  all  out  of  the  way  to  give  some 
hints  on  medical  subjects. 

Such  a  drug  as  ergot  does  probably  more  harm  than  good  in. 
labor  cases.  Its  exhibition  to  induce  labor  or  expedite  delivery  is 
harmful.  Under  its  action  still-births  increase  in  ratio,  and  tearing 
and  injuring  of  the  parts  under  the  violent  and  irregular  pains  it 
causes  are  common.  Its  use  in  labor  is  to  prevent  or  stop  post- 
partum bleeding.  In  this  case  its  spasmodic  action  probably  expels 
blood  clots  from  the  uterus,  and  may  induce  beneficial  contraction  of 
that  organ.  Thomas,  King,  lyusk,  and  Playfair  recommend  its  use 
after  the  birth  of  the  placenta. 

Besides  the  mistakes  so  common  in  the  administration  of  drugs, 
those  who  rely  on  them  must  contend  against  their  extraordinary 
variability  in  strength  as  at  present  sold.  Not  long  ago  a  com- 
mittee of  the  New  York  State  Pharamaceutical  Society  examined 
the  drugs  in  a  great  number  of  country  drug-stores  with  the  follow- 
ing results : 

Spirit  of  nitre  varied  in  strength  from  134  to  zero.  76  samples  of 
dilute  acetic  acid  showed  11  too  strong,  19  fair,  and  34  very  weak. 
The  strength  should  have  been  6.12  per  cent.,  but  the  samples  varied 
from  0.8  to  29.8.  Of  46  specimens  of  Hoffman's  anodyne  only  5 
were  good,  etc.,  etc. 

When  labor  is  delayed  a  much  better  practice  than  the  use  of 
drugs  is  to  encourage  indolent  nature  by  such  simple  and  innocent 
means  as  changing  the  woman's  position,  manipulation,  and  oc- 
casionally by  manual  dilation  of  the  os  uteri,  etc.  Nothing,  however, 
should  be  introduced  into  the  generative  tract  without  thorough, 
antiseptic  precautions,  and  only  in  clear  necessity. 

Dr.  Geo.  J.  Kngelmann  in  his  Labor  among  Primitive  People^ 
shows  that  nearly  every  possible  position  is  taken  by  women  in  labor 
amongst  such  people.  Standing  up,  lying  down,  kneeling,  squatting, 
tied  up,  pulling  on  a  rope  or  stick,  on  the  belly,  on  the  back,  half 
recumbent,  pushing  with  the  feet  against  a  wall,  being  held  around 
the  thorax  by  an  assistant,  ditto  with  downward  pressure  on  the 
uterus  by  the  arms  of  the  assistant,  hanging  of  the  woman  upon  the 
neck  of  an  assistant,  etc.,  etc.  Engelmann's  investigations  show 
that  there  is  no  natural  position  for  the  woman  in  labor.  This  has 
also  been  demonstrated  by  several  German  physicians  by  placing 
primiparae  in  labor  alone  in  rooms,  with  freedom  to  do  as  they  liked, 
and  no  information  as  to  what  to  do.  Several  hundred  such  experi- 
ments gave  negative  results.     We  may,  therefore,  feel  sure  that  a 


The  Child,  169 

change  of  position  can  do  no  harm,  while  it  is  strongly  probable 
that  this  work  of  nature  is  facilitated  by  movement. 

In  post-partum  hemorrhage,  water  heated  to  the  point  of  toler- 
ance may  be  used  to  irrigate  the  uterus  with  benefit.  Such  water 
should  be  boiled  before  use  so  as  to  sterilize  it. 

The  bowels  and  bladder  should  be  emptied  before  the  child  is 
bom.     This  is  the  first  thing  when  labor  commences. 

Dr.  M.  ly.  Holbrook  has  published  an  interesting  small  book  en- 
titled Parturition  without  Pain.  If  it  be  correct,  then  anaesthetics 
may  be  banished  from  every  birth.  Its  chief  object  is  to  show 
that  an  easy  and  practically  painless  delivery  may  be  obtained  by  a 
certain  course  of  diet.  The  main  points  in  this  diet  are  the  eating  of 
large  amounts  of  fruit,  especially  of  the  acid  kinds,  and  the  avoidance 
of  food  containing  considerable  earthy  salts.  What  he  advises 
against  are,  table-salt,  wheaten  bread,  and  all  preparations  of  wheat, 
pepper,  cinnamon,  nutmeg,  cloves,  ginger,  coffee,  cocoa,  Turkey  rhu- 
barb, liquorice,  lentils,  cinchona  or  Peruvian  bark,  cascarilla,  sarsa- 
parilla,  and  gentian.  The  best  forms  of  farinaceous  food  are  sago, 
tapioca,  and  rice.  For  drinking,  only  rain  water  or  distilled  water 
should  be  used.  The  theory  of  all  this  is,  that  if  the  earthy  salts  be 
withheld  from  the  mother's  diet,  the  bones  of  the  child  will  be  less 
fully  formed,  consequently  softer,  and  that,  therefore,  the  birth  will 
be  easier  on  account  of  the  compressibility  of  the  child.  His  proof 
is  in  citing  Indian  and  Hindoo  women  and  a  number  of  special  cases. 
In  some  of  these  the  child  was  born  when  the  mother  was  asleep,  or 
standing  on  the  floor,  thus  indicating  an  absence  of  preparatory  pain. 
Pain  and  trouble  were  at  a  minimum  in  all  his  instances.  Were  it 
a  patent  medicine  which  he  recommended,  I  should  say  that  the 
proof  was  too  incomplete  to  merit  attention.  Cases  of  sudden  and 
painless  birth  come  frequently  under  the  observation  of  every  ex- 
perienced obstetrician  without  any  special  dietary  regimen  having 
been  followed. 

However,  this  system  is  simple  and  deserves  a  trial  where  a 
previous  labor  has  been  difficult  or  painful. 

The  pains  of  women  in  childbirth  have  a  very  excellent  reason 
for  at  least  a  moderate  existence.  The  human  child  in  civilized 
communities  require  a  great  deal  of  care  at  the  time  of  its  birth.  To 
have  a  child  bom  while  walking  far  from  home,  in  a  carriage,  in  the 
streets,  or  without  due  notice,  would  be  very  inconvenient  in  all  cases, 
and  very  dangerous  in  most.  It  is  not  every  woman  who  can  be 
delivered  of  a  child  through  the  water-closet  of  a  moving  train,  stop 
the  train,  and  pick  the  child  up  alive  as  a  railroad  conductor's  wife  is 
recently  said  to  have  done.     The  pains  are  not  only  a  warning  but 


170  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

a  positive  command  of  nature  to  make  ready,  to  bring  in  assistance, 
and  to  be  so  located  as  to  make  the  child's  appearance  safe.  When 
we  reflect  upon  the  necessities  of  reproduction  and  upon  the  careless- 
ness and  folly  of  mankind  in  this  their  greatest  duty,  we  may  per- 
ceive that  the  pains  of  labor  are  a  great  safeguard  to  the  race. 
Without  them,  child-death  and  child-murder  at  full  term  would  be 
much  more  prevalent  than  at  present.  The  average  duration  of 
labor  in  civilized  women  is  in  primiparae  seventeen  hours,  and  in 
multiparae  twelve  hours ;  but  exceptions  are  so  numerous  as  to 
render  a  knowledge  of  this  average  of  little  importance. 

The  tendency  of  to-day  appears  to  be  too  much  interference  with 
this  supreme  work  of  nature  in  reproduction.  However,  as  develop- 
ment is  complex  so  is  the  difficulty  of  reproduction  increased,  and  as 
civilization  increases  so  does  the  difficulty  of  childbirth  seem  to 
increase  with  it. 

In  civilization  it  is  at  least  certain  that  marriages  take  place  later 
in  life  than  amongst  barbarians,  and  the  proportion  of  lateness 
doubtless  bears  a  close  relation  to  the  degree  of  civilization.  I^abor 
and  childbirth  must  consequently  come  later  in  the  life  of  the  women 
in  more  civilized  countries  than  in  less  civilized  ones.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  childbirth  becomes  progressively  more  difficult  in 
primiparae  every  year  after  twenty. 

After  twenty-seven  the  increased  difficulty  of  women  with  first 
births  becomes  very  noticeable.  As  the  parts,  muscles,  and  bones 
become  more  rigid,  the  difficulty  augments.  Abnormal  presenta- 
tions are  more  frequent ;  the  proportion  of  still-births  increases  and 
the  children  born  are  more  likely  to  be  deformed  in  body  or  to  be 
deficient  in  mind  with  every  year  the  first  birth  is  delayed,  certainly 
after  twenty-five  years  of  age  in  women. 

I^aceration  of  the  perineum  occurs  more  frequently  also.  When- 
ever this  accident  happens  the  lacerated  surfaces  should  be  sewed 
well  and  firmly  together  at  once.  The  physician  should  never  wait 
until  the  parts  swell.  After  the  se wing-up  the  knees  must  be  kept 
tied  together  for  from  eight  to  ten  days.  Some  doctors  practise  the 
Goodell  system  of  retarding  the  birth  of  the  head  to  save  the  peri- 
neum. A  general  adoption  of  this  practice  by  the  young  physicians 
in  a  New  York  hospital  increased  largely  the  proportion  of  still- 
births. 

Under  the  management  of  a  skilled  and  experienced  physician 
this  system  probably  does  good,  but  unless  you  have  a  man  in  whom 
you  absolutely  know  you  have  such  a  physician,  it  will  be  best  to 
condemn  this  procedure. 

A  manual  dilatation  of  the  vulva  and  stretching  of  the  perineum 


The  Child.  171 

when  carefully  performed  from  the  commencement  of  labor  dimin- 
ishes the  chance  of  tearing  of  the  perineum.  Its  effect  is  upon  the 
same  principle  as  that  seen  in  the  dilatation  of  the  rectum  for  surgical 
work.  By  gradual  and  careful  dilatation  of  the  rectum  it  may  be  so 
stretched  that  the  hand  and  arm  of  the  surgeon  may  be  intrcduced 
into  it  without  injury.  The  same  gradual  dilatation  of  the  urethra 
enables  surgeons  to  introduce  without  injury  large  instruments  into 
the  bladder  for  crushing  stones  formed  there. 

Accidents  also  occasionally  occur  to  the  cervix  or  other  parts  of 
the  generative  organs  in  labor.  Such  cases  should  be  treated  at  an 
early  subsequent  period.  Much  suffering  is  thus  prevented,  and  a 
prolonged  and  sometimes  permanent  sterility  is  avoided.  Many 
women  injured  in  childbirth  live  for  years  as  semi-invalids,  incapable 
of  full  life  action,  when  they  could  just  as  well  as  not  have  been 
happy  and  complete  wives,  full  of  health  for  themselves  and  joy  for 
their  husbands.  In  most  cases  of  this  kind  a  short  surgical  opera- 
tion would  have  cured  them  and  opened  their  lives  to  happiness. 
Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  the  meddlesome  obstetrician  may  be  a 
necessity.  A  first-class  physician,  the  best  you  can  get,  should 
always  be  employed  to  superintend  labor  and  childbirth,  to  be  at 
hand  in  case  operative  interference  be  required,  and  to  examine  the 
mother  afterward.  A  physician,  by  timely  knowledge,  may  save  a 
mother  and  child  that  otherwise  would  die  through  loss  of  time. 
He  may  promptly  sew  up  a  tear  that  without  action  might  occasion 
long  suffering. 

The  modesty  of  the  mother  should  be  protected  as  much  as 
possible,  and  no  persons  should  be  introduced  into  the  apartment 
except  those  absolutely  required. 

People  and  lights  vitiate  the  air  of  closed  rooms  and  should  in 
these  supreme  moments  never  be  allowed  in  excess  of  what  is  abso- 
lutely necessary. 

In  the  royal  families  of  Europe  a  different  policy  is  followed. 
The  members  of  the  family  and  the  principal  officers  of  state  must 
attend  the  birth  of  every  royal  child.  The  object  is  to  secure  the 
certainty  that  the  heir  to  the  throne  has  actually  arrived  by  the 
proper  and  legitimate  channel.  In  France,  to  the  second  child  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  this  custom  was  extended  to  admit  the  general 
public  to  view  the  birth  and  to  thus  carry  assurance  to  the  masses, 
at  least  as  to  the  maternity  of  the  princess.  The  crowd  that  roughly 
rushed  into  the  chambers  of  this  Queen,  and  even  climbed  on  to  the 
furniture  to  view  the  delivery  of  her  first  child,  very  nearly  caused 
her  death.  Subsequently  the  family  and  principal  officers  were 
deemed  sufficient,  and  the  rabble  was  excluded. 


172  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

The  Mormons  in  this  county  have  some  curious  customs  about 
the  delivery  of  the  child.  Four  elders  are  expected  to  be  present,  but 
neither  they  nor  any  one  else  may  render  assistance  to  the  woman. 
The  idea  seems  to  be  that  if  God  wishes  her  to  breed  He  will  carr>'  her 
through,  and  if  not  she  must  die  and  be  exterminated.  This  custom 
changes  from  the  curious  to  the  cruel  when  complications  arise.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  inquiries  made  by  me  in  Utah  show  a  very  low 
death-rate  in  delivery,  and  indicate  that  the  dangers  that  may  be 
overcome  by  timely  interference  are  more  than  neutralized  by  the 
dangers  created  by  unnecessary  meddling.  As  to  the  sj'Stem  of 
delivery  and  the  presence  of  the  elders  at  births,  it  is,  I  confess,  all 
upon  untrustworthy  evidence. 

If  the  husband  be  a  man  of  nerve  he  should  be  present  and  should 
have  beforehand  studied  as  much  as  possible  in  obstetrics  so  as  to 
know  what  ought  to  be  done  and  what  ought  to  be  left  alone.  He 
should  observe  great  discretion  in  the  use  of  such  information  ;  the 
emplo3^ment  of  a  new  doctor  in  case  of  bad  management  is  its  best 
application.  Nature  ought  to  do  this  work,  and,  if  the  woman's  life 
has  been  healthy,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  it  will  doit.  If  the 
woman's  life  has  been  artificial  and  without  healthy  occupation,  or  if 
she  be  weak  and  sickly,  trouble  is  more  likely  to  occur.  The  history 
of  labors  in  a  woman's  family, and  the  history  of  her  own  labors,  if 
she  be  a  multipara,  are  always  of  value.  They  may  enable  3^ou  to 
guard  against  peculiarities  that  would  not  otherwise  be  thought  of. 

The  greatest  danger  in  labor  is  from  infection  and  septic  poison- 
ing. To  guard  against  this,  neither  nurse  nor  doctor  should  be 
employed  who  has  had  within  a  considerable  period  cases  of  puerperal 
fever.  Both  nurse  and  doctor  should  be  required  to  wash  their  hands 
in  antiseptic  fluid  before  going  into  the  labor  or  to  the  woman  pend- 
ing her  recovery.  A  basin  of  antiseptic  w^ater,  renewed  frequently, 
should  be  kept  for  this  purpose.  A  good  preparation  for  this  object 
is  one  part  of  bichloride  of  mercury  to  one  thousand  of  water.  This 
destroys  the  life  of  any  bacteria  after  an  exposure  of  45  seconds. 
Superficial  washing  of  hands  or  instruments  is  not  sufiicient.  The 
instruments  should  be  soaked  in  the  antiseptic  fluid. 

Doctors  are  often  touchy  about  advice  in  such  matters,  and  it 
may  be  well  to  exhibit  this  rule  to  them  in  the  family  book  rather 
than  to  tell  it  with  explanations.  A  doctor  that  requires  cleansing, 
it  must  be  said,  is  a  pretty  poor  customer  to  deal  with,  but  no  pre- 
caution of  so  simple  a  character  should  be  avoided  where  so  much  is 
at  stake.  The  life  of  a  true  wife,  of  a  mother  who  has  immortalized 
you  and  kindled  anew  the  fires  of  your  youth,  commands  your  every 
solicitude  and  care. 


The  Child.  173 

Septic  poisoning  in  new  mothers  arises  from  two  causes  :  the  first 
cause  being  contagion,  the  second  being  from  imperfect  contraction 
of  the  uterus  and  the  consequent  absorption  through  its  unclosed 
sinuses  of  the  decomposed  contents  of  this  organ,  blood  clots,  etc. 
The  defective  contraction  of  the  uterus  is  generally  due  to  a  pro- 
longed second  stage  of  labor.  The  first  stage  may  be  long  without 
harm,  but  after  the  presenting  part  has  passed  the  cervix,  the  child 
should  be  born  within  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  if  it  is  not  bom  within 
three  hours  of  the  second  stage  instrumental  interference  is  strongly 
indicated.  The  skilful  physician  can  ascertain  by  the  heart-beats 
of  the  unborn  child,  and  by  other  signs,  the  time  when  delay  would 
no  longer  be  safe  for  the  mother  or  the  child.  For  more  exact  infor- 
mation you  should  study  a  work  on  obstetrics. 

Some  figures  recently  published  by  Dr.  Down  indicate  at  once  the 
importance  and  the  danger  of  instrumental  interference  in  delayed 
labors. 

Dr.  Down  says  that  of  idiots  bom,  9  per  cent,  are  due  to  instru- 
mental interference,  and  20  per  cent,  to  delays  in  birth.  One  of  the 
best  practices  I  have  seen  in  unduly  delayed  labors  is  a  manual 
dilatation  of  the  cervix.  This  hastens  the  labor  and  the  dangers  of 
injury  to  mother  and  child  are  at  a  minimum. 

Antiseptics  or  drugs  fatal  to  germ  life  are  numerous.  Two  or 
more  of  these  should  not  be  used  together  without  a  full  test  of  their 
action  after  combination.  Many  drugs  fatal  to  germs  when  alone, 
lose  much  of  their  force  when  combined  with  other  drugs  also  fatal 
to  germs  without  mixture.  Even  soap  should  not  be  used  with 
antiseptics,  as  it  prevents  the  complete  action  of  several  such  drugs. 
All  secretions  of  the  sick  should  be  disinfected  at  once  and  before 
they  are  thrown  out. 

No  nurse  with  syphilis,  consumption,  cancer,  or  any  contagious 
disease  should  be  employed  upon  any  terms.  Such  diseases  are 
communicable  and  might  be  given  to  the  mother  or  to  the  child.  It 
is  not  certain  whether  cancer  is  communicable.  Recent  experiments 
in  Germany  show  that  it  may  be  inoculated.  Dr.  Hahn  of  Berlin 
experimented  with  a  woman  admitted  to  the  hospital  for  recurrent 
cancer  of  the  left  breast.  He  transplanted  some  of  the  cancerous 
skin  to  the  right  breast.  A  microscopical  examination  after  death 
showed  that  a  cancerous  growth  had  taken  place  where  the  inocula- 
tion had  been  made.  Alibert  derided  the  theory  of  cancer  contagion.  • 
He  inoculated  himself  with  the  juice  of  a  cancer  and  died  shortly 
after  of  carcinoma.  Hanan  of  Zurich  has  recently  transferred  carci- 
noma from  one  rat  to  two  others.  If  cancer  be  not  contagious  a 
child's  vitality  would  be  lowered  by  contact  with  it. 


1 74  The    Conquest  of  Death, 

Cleanliness  is  the  shibboleth  of  the  lying-in  room.  Every  pre- 
caution should  be  taken  on  this  head.  Soiled  linen,  excrementory 
matter,  and  all  slops  should  be  promptly  removed.  There  is  a  super- 
stition, based  upon  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  mother  quiet  for 
some  time  after  childbirth,  that  the  sheets  should  not  be  changed  for 
a  certain  period  after  the  event.  The  sheets  can  be  removed  without 
any  injurious  disturbance  to  the  woman,  and  should  be  removed  at 
once  and  changed  frequently.  It  is  dangerous  to  have  soiled  sheets 
under  a  woman  at  this  time. 

The  mammary  glands  and  nipples  of  the  woman  about  to  become 
a  mother  require  careful  attention.  This  is  especially  the  case  before 
the  first  confinement.  Some  time  before  confinement,  the  nipples 
should  be  manipulated  gently  and  rubbed  twice  a  day  with  brandy 
to  which  a  little  alum  has  been  added.  Where  the  nipples  are  sunken, 
nipple  shields  with  openings  should  be  worn.  White  rubber  should 
never  be  used.  Proper  care  at  this  time  will  make  the  nipples  hard, 
prevent  cracking,  and  allow  the  mother  the  full  delights  of  suckling 
without  pain. 

Where  fi-om  malformation  in  the  mother,  excessive  size  of  the 
foetus,  or  from  any  cause  the  birth  is  impossible  through  the  natural 
channels,  there  are  two  methods  used,  embryotomy  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  child  being  one,  and^  csesarian  section  being  the  other ; 
this  latter  by  making  an  incision  into  the  uterus  from  the  exterior, 
and  thus  extracting  the  child.  By  this  means  the  child  may  be 
saved.  The  objection  to  this  procedure  has  been  the  supposed  in- 
creased danger  to  the  mother.  The  recent  improvements  in  surgery 
and  antisepsis  show  that  this  is  not  now  to  be  feared.  The  operation 
of  destroying  the  child  now  has  no  better  statistics  for  the  mother 
than  has  caesarian  section.  Hertsch  has  performed  caesarian  section 
seven  times  without  a  death,  and  of  Cameron's  ten  cases  but  one  died. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  European  figures  on  embryotomy  show  a  death- 
rate  varying  from  5>^  per  cent,  to  45  per  cent.  I  am  decidedly  in 
favor  of  the  operation  to  save  both  lives.  Another  operation  has 
recently  come  into  fashion.  This  is  called  symphysiotomy.  The 
operation  consists  in  cutting  through  the  symphysis  and  so  enlarging 
the  opening  for  delivery.  It  is  a  good  operation  in  certain  cases,  and 
is  more  easily  performed  than  caesarian  section. 

The  eyes,  mouth,  and  nose  of  the  new-born  child  should  be 
promptly  sponged  clean  with  lukewarm  water.  The  importance  of  this 
may  be  realized  when  we  learn  that  27.50  per  cent,  of  diseases  of  the 
eye  are  contagious,  and  of  these  1.69  per  cent,  are  due  to  conjunctiva 
neonatorum  contracted  at  birth.  The  percentage  is  not  large,  but 
it  may  as  well  be  guarded  against  at  so  small  a  cost. 


The  Child. 


175 


After  labor  the  bowels  of  the  mother  should  be  moved,  if  nature 
is  indolent,  after  the  third  day.  lyaxatives  in  such  case  should  be 
given,  and,  if  necessary,  be  aided  by  injections.  An  enema  should 
be  taken  early  in  labor  if  no  natural  evacuation  has  occurred. 

The  child  should  not  be  generally  exhibited  to  friends  or  kissed  by 
any  one  except  the  mother.  Frequently  a  child  when  bom  does  not 
breathe.  Prompt  action  is  required  in  such  case.  The  nose  and 
mouth  should  be  rapidly  sponged,  a  dash  of  cold  water  on  the  spine 
may  help,  the  arms  should  be  moved  to  expand  the  chest,  a  breath 
may  be  forced  by  the  operator  into  the  child's  lungs,  or  the  mucus 
sucked  from  its  throat.  One  excellent  method  is  to  hold  the  child's 
head  downward  by  one  leg  for  a  few  moments.  These,  and  a  num- 
ber of  other,  procedures  bring  on  the  breathing  by  reflex  action. 
When  these  methods  fail,  the  system  of  artificial  respiration  practised 
by  Dr.  W.  E.  Forrest  should  be  immediately  commenced.  As  long 
as  the  ear,  not  the  hand,  can  detect  heart  action  in  the  foetus  there 
is  hope,  and  the  efforts  to  save  should  not  be  relaxed.  Forrest's 
method,  in  his  own  words,  is  as  follows  : 

**  When  it  is  evident  that  the  asphyxia  is  so  profound  that  reflex  irritation 
will  not  remove  it,  and  that  artificial  respiration  is  necessary,  the  child  is  first 
laid  for  a  moment  on  its  face,  head  a  little  lower  than  the  pelvis,  and  pressure 
is  made  upon  its  back  to  expel  any  fluids  that  may  have  been  drawn  into  the 
mouth  and  trachea.  Then  the  child  is  placed  in  a  sitting  position  in  a  common 
wooden  pail,  half  full  of  hot  water,  so  that  the  water  comes  up  to  or  just  above 
the  child's  heart.  The  operator's  left  hand  grasps  the  child's  wrists  or  hands, 
the  child's  palms  being  to  the  front,  so  that  when  its  arms  are  raised  they  will 
be  rotated  outward.  The  operator's  right  hand  supports  the  child's  back  across 
the  shoulders,  with  the  child's  head  fallen  back  and  resting  in  the  crotch  between 
the  thumb  and  finger  of  this  hand. 

''The  infant  being  in  position,  the  first  movement  is  that  for  getting  air 
into  the  lungs.  The  child's  arms  are  carried  steadily  upward  and  a  little  back- 
ward by  the  operator's  left  hand,  until  the  weight  of  the  body  comes  upon  the 
shoulders,  the  back  steadied  by  the  operator's  right  hand,  the  head  supported 
between  the  thumb  and  forefinger.  In  this  position  the  child's  arms  are  drawn 
up  and  rotated  outward,  and  the  muscles  extending  from  shoulders  to  ribs  made 
tense.  Thus  the  ribs  are  raised.  As  the  child  is  in  the  sitting  posture  the 
abdominal  muscles  are  relaxed,  and  thus  do  not  tend  to  prevent  the  raising  of 
the  ribs,  as  is  done  in  the  Sylvester  and  Schultz  methods.  In  the  latter  methods 
one  force  tends  to  counteract  the  other.  This  is  avoided  in  the  method  here 
given. 

**  Having  enlarged  the  thoracic  diameters  to  the  fullest  extent  by  raising  the 
ribs,  or  rather,  made  it  possible  for  them  to  be  enlarged,  we  next  proceed  to 
force  air  directly  into  the  lungs.  When  the  ribs  are  raised  the  child's  head 
extends  sharply  backward.  This  throws  the  cervical  vertebrae  forward  and 
draws  the  larynx  backward.  Thus  the  flaccid  oesophagus  becomes  compressed 
between  the  bones  of  the  vertebrae  on  one  side  and  the  firm  cartilaginous  larynx 


176  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

on  the  other  ;  as  a  consequence,  the  oesophagus  is  effectually  closed  and  the 
air  cannot  be  forced  into  the  stomach,  and  must  enter  the  lungs.  This  effect- 
ually disposes  of  the  time-worn  and  false  statement  that  mouth-to-mouth  insuf- 
flation must  force  the  air  into  the  stomach  instead  of  the  lungs.  This  position  of 
the  head  also  draws  the  tongue  and  epiglottis  forward  far  better  than  it  can  be 
done  with  the  forceps,  and  there  is  no  possible  chance  for  the  tongue  to  fall 
back  and  close  the  larynx.  We  have  now  an  open  passage-way  through  the 
mouth  and  larynx  to  the  lungs,  and  there  is  no  necessity  of  inserting  the 
catheter. 

"The  next  step  is  to  force  air  into  the  lungs.  The  arms  still  held  up,  the 
operator  bends  forward,  and  taking  in  a  breath  as  he  does  so,  places  his  mouth 
over  that  of  the  child  and  blows  the  air  directly  into  the  lungs. 

"  The  air  must  and  does  enter  the  lungs  and  distend  the  collapsed  air-cells, 
as  can  be  determined  by  the  fact  that  it  can  be  heard  lea\dng  the  lungs  at  the 
next  step  in  this  method.  No  great  force  need  be  used  in  doing  this,  although 
there  is  but  little  danger  of  injuring  the  air-cells,  however  great  the  force.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  a  safety  escape  is  provided  in  this  method  for  excess  of  air.  The 
nose  should  be,  and  is,  pervdous,  and  any  excess  pours  out  through  that  aper- 
ture, thus  relieving  the  pressure  on  the  lungs.  This  completes  the  movement 
for  introducing  air  into  the  lungs. 

"Expiration  is  brought  about  by  doubling  the  child's  body  forward  upon  it- 
self so  as  to  crowd  the  abdominal  organs  against  the  diaphragm  ;  at  the  same 
time  the  arms  are  lowered  to  the  side,  and  the  operator's  left  hand,  still  retain- 
ing the  hands  of  the  child,  is  brought  against  the  front  of  the  child's  thorax, 
and  then  gently  and  steadily  presses  the  ribs  and  sternum  downward  and  back- 
ward. Thus  every  requisite  is  provided  for  forcing  the  air  out  of  the  lungs : 
the  diaphragm  is  pushed  up,  the  abdominal  muscles  are  relaxed,  the  shoulders 
are  lowered,  and  the  thorax  is  compressed  between  the  operator's  hands,  one 
on  the  child's  back,  the  other  across  the  front  of  the  thorax.  After  a  dozen  or 
fifteen  complete  movements,  when  a  sufficient  number  of  the  collapsed  air- 
cells  have  been  distended,  one  can  hear  the  air  rush  out  of  the  lungs  when  the 
pressure  is  made  upon  the  thorax  by  the  operator's  hands.  This  completes  the 
movement  for  expiration.  Again  the  hands  are  carried  upward  and  backward, 
the  child's  body  is  just  raised  off  the  bottom  of  the  pail,  so  that  the  weight  of 
the  body  is  on  the  arms  alone,  the  head  falls  back,  air  is  again  blown  into  the 
lungs. 

"  Now  as  to  the  philosophy  of  the  method.  It  will  be  noticed  that  during  the 
whole  of  the  process  mueh  of  the  child's  body  is  in  the  warm  bath.  This  I 
conceive  to  be  of  great  importance,  and  it  is  something  that  has  not  been 
applied,  so  far  as  known,  in  any  other  method. 

**  The  important  thing  in  attempts  at  resuscitation  in  a  bad  case  of  asphjrxia 
in  the  new-bom  babe  is  to  keep  the  child's  heart  acting.  It  is  easy  enough  to 
supply  air  artificially  to  the  lungs  for  the  oxygenation  of  the  blood,  but  unless 
the  heart  sends  the  blood  to  the  lungs,  and  then  on  through  the  tissues  of  the 
body,  the  oxygen  put  into  the  lungs  is  useless.  Now,  if  the  child's  skin  is 
allowed  to  get  cold  the  blood  in  the  capillaries  ceases  to  move,  and  the  effect 
is  soon  manifested  on  the  feebly  beating  heart.  If  the  blood  leaves  the  capil- 
laries cooled  it  enters  the  veins  at  a  low  temperature  and  thus  chills  the  heart 
itself.  Again,  the  heart  lies  near  the  surface  of  the  body,  and  in  a  half-hour 
may  be  directly  chilled  through  the  loss  of  heat  from  the  surface  of  the  body. 


The  Child, 


^77 


**  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  body  is  kept  in  a  bath  with  a  temperature  of 
from  105°  to  110°  F,,  the  capillaries  are  dilated,  the  blood  can  circulate  freely, 
and  heated  blood  may  be  carried  to  the  heart.  It  is  claimed  by  physiologists 
that  when  the  circulation  is  active  the  whole  mass  of  blood  in  the  body  passes 
through  the  capillaries  of  the  skin  in  a  few  minutes.  Now,  if  the  body  is  in  a 
warm  bath  the  whole  mass  of  blood  has  its  temperature  raised,  and  thus  the 
muscles  themselves  soon  become  heated.  Any  one  can  demonstrate  the  fact 
on  themselves  by  getting  into  a  hot  bath  up  to  the  neck.  The  thermometer 
in  the  mouth  will  soon  show  a  rise  of  two  to  three  degrees  Fahrenheit.  M. 
Morey's  experiments  proved  conclusively  that  muscular  tissue  loses  its  con- 
tractility when  its  temperature  is  lowered,  and  regains  it  when  the  temperature 
of  the  muscles  is  raised  up  to  a  certain  point.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  the 
maximum  aptitude  for  contraction  is  exhibited  by  human  muscles  at  about 
40°  C.  =  104°  F.  This  is  about  the  temperature  of  the  body  of  a  healthy  adult 
■when  immersed  for  some  time  in  a  bath  at  the  temperature  of  110°  F, 

"The  heart  is  a  muscular  organ,  obeying  all  the  laws  of  muscular  action, 
and  it  seems  evident  that  in  an  asphyxiated  infant  it  will  act  with  more  force 
if  the  infant's  body  temperature  is  raised  and  kept  at  102°  to  103°  F.,  than  if  it 
is  lowered  to  96°  to  94°  F.,  as  it  will  be  if  the  skin  is  exposed  to  the  air  for  a 
short  time. 

"  Theory  and  practice  both  prove  that  the  continued  warm  bath  is  a  most 
important  measure  in  the  resuscitation  of  badly  asphyxiated  infants.  The 
importance  of  having  the  child  in  a  sitting  posture  during  the  respiratory  move- 
ments has  already  been  commented  on. 

"  In  comparing  the  method  here  given  with  the  best  three  methods  hereto- 
fore used,  namely,  Sylvester's,  Schultz's,  and  the  catheter  in  the  larynx,  it  will 
be  seen  that  this  combines  all  the  advantages  of  the  three  usual  methods  with- 
out any  of  their  drawbacks.  For  instance,  in  the  new  method,  we  have  direct 
insufflation  of  air  from  the  operator's  lungs,  as  when  the  catheter  is  employed. 
We  have  exactly  the  same  method  of  raising  the  ribs  and  sternum  as  in  the 
Sylvester  method,  with  the  additional  advantage  of  having  the  abdominal 
muscles  relaxed.  We  have  in  the  new  method  the  descent  of  the  diaphragm 
that  is  claimed  as  an  advantage  in  the  Schultz  method.  We  have  in  expiration 
the  same  doubling  of  the  child's  body  forward  and  pushing  up  of  the  diaphragm 
as  are  found  in  the  Schultz  and  Schroeder  methods.  We  avoid  shock  and 
exposure  that  are  so  often  fatal  in  the  Schultz  method,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
keep  up  the  vital  or  animal  heat  in  the  infant  during,  perhaps,  a  long 
operation. 

"In  recapitulation  it  may  be  said  that  the  steps  in  the  new  method  of 
artificial  respiration  in  bad  cases  of  asphyxia  in  the  new-born  are  as  follows  : 

'*  I.  Lay  the  child  on  its  face  for  an  instant  with  the  head  and  thorax  lower 
than  the  pelvis,  and  make  quick  but  not  violent  pressure  on  the  child's  back. 
This  is  done  to  expel  any  fluids  that  may  have  been  drawn  into  the  child's 
mouth  while  passing  through  the  pelvic  canal. 

**  2.  Place  the  child  in  the  sitting  posture  in  a  pail  or  tub  containing  six  to 
eight  inches  of  water  as  hot  as  can  be  borne  comfortably  by  the  operator's  hand. 
The  child  is  supported  in  this  position  by  one  of  the  operator's  hands  across 
the  child's  back,  the  child's  head  bent  back  and  resting  in  the  crotch  between 
the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  this  hand.  The  child's  hands  with  the  palms  to 
the  front  are  held  in  the  other  hand  of  the  operator. 


17^  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

"  3.  The  child's  hands  are  carried  upward  until  the  child  is  suspended  by 
the  arms,  the  buttocks  just  raised  from  the  bottom  of  the  pail.  The  child's 
head  now  falls  back,  and  the  operator  leans  forward,  and,  mouth  to  mouthy 
blows  into  the  child's  lungs. 

"4.  The  child's  arms  are  then  lowered  until  the  hand  of  the  operator 
holding  them  rests  across  the  front  of  the  child's  thorax.  Then  the  body  of 
the  child  is  doubled  forward,  and,  at  the  same  time,  its  thorax  is  compressed 
between  the  operator's  hands,  one  in  front,  the  other  behind.  This  expels  the 
air  from  the  lungs  and  completes  the  movements. 

**Case  I. — In  March,  1890,  I  was  called  by  an  Italian  midwife  to  assist  her 
in  the  delivery.of  a  child.  The  mother  I  found  to  be  a  stout,  healthy  primi- 
para,  aged  twenty-one.  The  waters  had  come  away  forty-eight  hours  before  I 
was  summoned  and  there  had  been  labor  pains  ever  since,  but  no  progress  had 
been  made.  On  examination,  I  found  the  os  only  one  fourth  dilated,  the  lips 
thick  and  firm,  the  pelvic  roof  but  little  retracted,  and  the  vaginal  canal  wholly 
unfitted  for  the  passage  of  a  foetal  head. 

"  I  decided  to  wait  a  few  hours  ;  the  patient  meantime  to  receive  hot  rectal 
douches.  Six  hours  later  I  was  called  again.  I^ittle  if  any  change,  except 
that  the  soft  parts  were  more  relaxed.  The  position  of  the  head  was  face 
anterior. 

**  Taking  into  consideration  the  conditions  of  the  case,  i.e.,  the  position  of 
the  head,  the  early  discharge  of  the  waters,  the  leathery  condition  of  the  soft 
parts,  the  large  size  of  the  child's  head,  and  the  fact  that  the  mother  was  a  fat, 
plethoric  young  woman,  I  felt  sure  that  I  had  a  tiresome  task  before  me.  Need- 
less to  say  that  I  was  not  disappointed.  The  forceps  were  applied,  and  it  took 
three  hours  of  almost  continuous  traction  of  the  strongest  kind  to  deliver  the 
child.  The  child's  head  did  not  rotate,  and  in  spite  of  every  care  during 
delivery,  the  mother  was  badly  lacerated,  down  to,  but  not  into,  the  rectum. 
The  child  was  apparently  dead,  no  pulsation  of  the  cord,  and  not  the  slightest 
pulsation  of  the  heart  could  be  felt  by  the  hand.  The  midwife  attended  to  the 
delivery  of  the  placenta,  while  I  gave  all  my  attention  to  the  attempt  to  resus- 
citate the  child.  There  was  no  pulsation  of  the  heart  that  could  be  felt  by 
placing  my  hand  over  the  child's  prsecordial  region  ;  but  on  putting  my  ear  ta 
this  region  I  could  very  distinctly  hear  the  heart  beating  at  the  rate  of  about 
sixty  beats  per  minute. 

"  Let  me  say  here  that  in  my  opinion  the  practitioner  should  never  trust  to 
his  hand  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  new-born  child's  heart  beats.  It  is 
really  startling  to  put  one's  ear  to  a  child's  chest  where  the  hand  can  feel  no 
pulsation,  and  then  hear  with  such  distinctness  the  dull  thud,  thud,  of  the 
child's  heart.  Dependence  should  always  be  placed  on  the  ear  instead  of  the 
hand  in  determining  whether  or  not  an  infant's  heart  has  ceased  to  beat. 

"  In  attempting  to  resuscitate  this  child  I  employed  for  a  minute  or  two  the 
usual  slapping  with  the  hand,  rubbing  with  brandy,  dipping  into  hot  and  then 
into  cold  water,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  case  was  beyond  the  effect  of  reflex 
irritation. 

"  The  method  of  artificial  respiration  mentioned  above  was  then  employed. 
That  it  caused  air  to  enter  and  leave  the  lungs  could  be  determined  by  the  blue 
color  leaving  the  child's  lips.  Still  there  was  not  a  single  voluntary  or  spas- 
modic effort  at  inspiration. 

"  I  have  said  that  at  the  beginning  of  my  efforts  the  heart  was  beating  at 


The  Child,  179 


the  rate  of  sixty  beats  per  minute.  This  gave  me  a  little  confidence  that  I 
might  revive  the  child. 

"  At  the  end  of  fifteen  minutes  I  removed  the  child  from  the  bath,  put  my 
ear  to  its  chest,  and  counted  the  heart-beats  by  my  watch.  The  pulsations  were 
one  hundred  and  twenty  per  minute,  I  slapped  the  child  quite  vigorously,  and 
it  drew  up  its  legs  with  a  slow,  convulsive  movement.  But  it  made  no  gasping 
eflforts  to  draw  in  the  air,  a  movement  that  usually  cheers  the  physician  in 
these  cases.  Meantime  the  water  in  the  pail  had  been  renewed  by  fresh  hot 
water,  I  set  the  child  in  it,  and  with  my  hand  laved  the  water  upon  the  child's 
breast  and  neck.  Under  the  influence  of  these  hot  douches  the  capillaries 
could  be  seen  to  fill  with  blood,  as  shown  by  the  skin  turning  red,  thus  show- 
ing that  the  heart  was  doing  its  part.  Still  no  respiratory  efforts.  I  com- 
menced artificial  respiration  again,  and  continued  for  ten  minutes  more.  At 
the  end  of  that  time,  the  midwife  stated  that  she  could  not  deliver  the  after- 
birth, and  that  the  woman  was  flooding.  I  was  compelled  to  leave  the  child 
for  a  short  interval.  Laid  it  on  the  table  and  told  the  midwife  to  rub  it  while  I 
attended  to  the  mother. 

"I  was  detained  five  minutes  and  then  returned  to  my  little  charge.  I 
found  on  putting  my  ear  to  its  chest  that  the  heart  was  beating  only  thirty 
times  per  minute.  I  had  little  hopes  of  resuscitating  it,  but  wished  to  see  what 
the  effect  of  artificial  respiration  might  be,  and  so  replaced  the  child  in  the  hot 
water  and  renewed  my  efforts.  At  the  end  of  three  minutes  I  removed  the 
child,  and  found  the  heart  beating  at  the  rate  of  ninety  per  minute.  At  the 
end  of  ten  minutes  more  the  heart  was  beating  one  hundred  and  ten  times  per 
minute. 

"  It  was  now  a  little  more  than  three  quarters  of  an  hour  since  the  child  was 
born,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  heart  was  beating  quite  normally,  and 
that  there  had  been  two  reflex  drawings  up  of  the  legs,  there  had  not  been  the 
faintest  effort  at  an  attempt  toward  spontaneous  respiration.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  the  nerve-centres  governing  the  respiratory  function  or  the  nerve-connec- 
tion between  these  centres  and  the  lungs  had  been  injured,  and  the  lungs  could 
not  voluntarily  act.  Artificial  respiration,  as  I  practised  it,  seemed  to  answer 
to  supply  the  blood  with  air,  and  thus  favor  the  heart's  natural  action.  I 
resumed  my  efforts  and  continued  them  for  fifteen  minutes,  making  an  hour 
since  the  child's  birth.  Heart  beating  over  a  hundred  per  minute,  and  skin 
and  lips  a  good  color.  I  suspended  operations  for  three  minutes ;  heart  ran 
down  to  thirty  beats  per  minute.  Resumed  my  efforts,  and  heart  was  soon 
beating  at  ninety  per  minute.  I  had  given  up  any  hopes  of  establishing  natural 
respiration,  but  was  simply  carrjdng  on  an  experiment.  An  hour  and  fifteen 
minutes  after  the  birth  of  the  child,  I  suspended  work  for  five  minutes,  owing 
to  my  own  fatigue.  On  resuming,  the  heart  was  beating  very  slow,  less  than 
twenty  per  minute,  the  child,  however,  made  another  spasmodic  movement  of 
its  legs. 

"My  efforts  soon  ran  the  heart-beats  up  to  sixty  per  minute,  and  there  it 
remained  as  long  as  I  continued  artificial  respiration.  I  had  become  very  much 
fatigued  by  this  time,  and  occasionally  laid  the  child  aside  so  as  to  rest  myself. 
Every  time  I  resumed  artificial  respiration,  I  could  increase  the  rate  of  heart- 
pulsation. 

"  An  hour  and  three  quarters  after  the  birth  of  the  child  the  heart  was  beat- 
ting  very  slowly,  not  more  than  eight  or  ten  beats  per  minute.     My  efforts  ran 


i8o  The    Conquest  of  Death. 

the  rate  up  to  forty  beats  per  minute.  I  then  definitely  abandoned  the  experi- 
ment, owing  to  my  own  fatigue,  not  because  my  subject  was  exhausted.  The 
child  never  made  a  respiratory  effort  during  all  this  time.  It  seemed  that  the 
action  of  the  heart  might  have  been  continued  for  many  hours  in  this  case  had 
artificial  respiration  been  continued  steadily.  I  noticed  that  the  more  rapid 
the  artificial  respiratory  movements  were  made  the  more  quickly  the  pulse 
rose. 

"  Respiratory  movements  in  a  new-bom  child  should  be  made  forty  or  fifty 
times  a  minute  instead  of  twenty  times,  as  usually  taught.  An  infant  breathes 
naturally  about  forty  times  a  minute,  and  this  rate  should  be  the  rule  in  arti- 
ficial respiratory  movements. 

"  There  are  certain  conclusions  that  may  be  drawn  from  this  case  : 

"  I.  The  method  of  artificial  respiration  advocated  in  this  paper  ventilates 
the  lungs.  This  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  for  an  hour  and  three  quarters  the 
blood  received  a  fair  supply  of  oxygen,  as  shown  in  the  capillaries  of  the  skin, 
without  the  child  making  a  single  voluntary  or  spasmodic  effort  at  inspiration. 

"  2.  It  was  demonstrated  that  the  action  of  the  heart  is  stimulated  and  con-, 
tinued  by  supplying  the  lungs  with  air.  The  pulse-rate  rose  and  fell  in  direct 
ratio  with  the  attempts  at  artificial  respiration. 

**  Flint's  Physiology  states  that,  in  experiments  on  animals,  '  if  the  heart  be 
exposed  in  a  living  animal  and  artificial  respiration  kept  up,  although  the 
pulsations  are  diminished  in  frequency  and  increased  in  force,  after  a  time  they 
become  perfectly  regular  and  so  continue  just  as  long  as  air  is  adequately  sup- 
plied to  the  lungs.' 

''3.— That  in  certain  cases  the  respiratory  function  cannot  be  established, 
owing  possibly  to  injuries  to  the  medulla. 

"Case;  II. — Stout  German  woman.  Multipara.  I  was  called  to  the  case, 
and  reached  the  house,  according  to  the  mother's  statement,  a  half-hour  after 
the  child  was  born.  From  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  I  do  not  think  this 
statement  an  exaggeration.  The  mother  stated  that  when  the  child  was  bom 
it  screamed  loudly  for  a  minute,  but  she  had  neither  heard  nor  felt  it  since. 

"The  mother  lay  on  a  German  feather-bed,  resting  on  her  elbow,  in  a  semi- 
reclining  posture,  thus  making  at  the  hips,  in  the  soft  bed  an  artificial  pond 
that  contained  about  a  pail  of  mixed  blood  and  amniotic  fluid,  lying  in  which, 
face  downward,  was  the  infant,  apparently  dead — drowned.  It  could  not  have 
been  in  that  position  less  than  half  an  hour,  as  the  child  was  born  just  as  the 
messenger  left  the  house  to  summon  me.  I  removed  it  and  quickly  rubbed  it 
off"  with  hot  water.  No  pulsation  of  the  heart  could  be  felt  and  the  child  was 
limp  and  cool.  On  putting  my  ear  to  its  chest  I  could  just  distinguish  a  faint 
thud  at  the  rate  of  about  twenty  beats  per  minute.  I  put  the  child  into  hot 
water  and  commenced  artificial  respiration  after  the  method  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding case.  In  five  minutes  I  listened  to  the  heart-beat  and  found  it  much 
stronger  and  at  the  rate  of  about  ninety  beats  per  minute.  No  respiratory 
efforts  yet.  I  resumed  my  work,  and  in  three  minutes  more  (eight  minutes 
from  the  beginning)  the  child  made  its  first  gasp.  .  In  a  short  time  thereafter 
respiration  was  well  established.     The  child  is  now  living  and  healthy. 

"  This  was  not  a  case  of  asphyxia  neonatorum,  strictly  speaking,  because 
the  child  cried  immediately  after  birth  and  then  was  drowned. 

"The  case  was  introduced  here  because  it  illustrates  two  things  :  i.  The 
influence  of  artificial  respiration  on  the  heart ;  the  pulse-rate  running  up  from 


The  Child.  i8i 

twenty  beats  per  minute  to  at  least  ninety  beats  before  the  child  made  any 
respiratory  efforts.  2.  The  ease  with  which  a  child  is  resuscitated  after  it  has 
once  cried  and  thus  distended  its  air-cells,  as  compared  with  the  diflSculty  of 
resuscitating  a  child,  no  more  badly  asphyxiated,  but  whose  air-cells  have 
never  been  distended  and  are  completely  collapsed,  as  at  birth. 

*'  Case  III. — Italian  woman,  primipara.  I^arge  male  child,  face  anterior.  A 
very  tedious  labor.  Child  born  at  length  after  delay  with  the  shoulders. 
Badly  asyphiated.  I  commenced  artificial  respiration  after  the  method  de- 
scribed above.  There  were  no  reflex  movements  in  this  case.  It  was  just  three 
quarters  of  an  hour  before  the  child  gave  the  first  convulsive,  spasmodic  gasp  ; 
then  ten  minutes'  unremitting  eflFort  before  the  second  respiratory  gasp  was 
made.  After  this  the  respiratory  efforts  became  gradually  more  frequent,  but 
it  was  an  hour  and  forty  minutes  before  the  function  was  established  so  that 
the  child  could  breathe  alone.  Even  then  it  breathed  with  difficulty,  and  it 
was  more  than  twelve  hours  before  the  respirations  were  natural.  The  child 
made  a  good  recovery. 

"  Case  IV. — Mother  a  young  and  fleshy  primipara.  An  exceedingly  tedious 
labor.  Instrumental  delivery  after  prolonged  traction.  The  child  was  bom 
with  blue  and  swollen  face,  and  apparently  badly  asphyxiated.  Before  the 
cord  was  tied,  the  child  made  a  single  convulsive  effort  at  inspiration,  and  my 
hand  could  feel  the  heart  pulsate.  After  tying  the  cord  I  asked  the  nurse  to 
cut  it.  Unfortunately  she  cut  it  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ligature,  and,  as  a 
consequence,  there  was  a  quick  escape  of  about  three  drachms  of  blood.  The 
child  immediately  became  blanched  and  relaxed,  and  made  no  further  efforts 
at  inspiration.  I  tried  the  usual  methods  of  reflex  irritation,  expecting  no 
difficulty  in  restoring  respiration,  but  to  no  avail.  I  could  now  not  feel  the 
heart  beat,  and  on  listening  at  the  chest  could  just  hear  that  it  was  beating  very 
faintly,  and  only  about  thirty  times  to  the  minute.  It  seemed  to  me  then  that 
the  sudden  abstraction  of  blood  from  the  large  umbilical  vessels  connecting  so 
directly  with  the  heart,  had  caused  a  shock  that  had  nearly  suspended  cardiac 
action.  It  is  an  old  and  almost  universally  accepted  theoiy  that,  in  the  words 
of  Cazeau  :  '  When  the  child  is  born  with  a  general  injection  of  the  capillaries 
of  the  head  and  trunk,  it  is  evident  that  the  first  indication  is  to  relieve  the 
engorgement  of  the  head  and  lungs,  which  is  done  by  promptly  cutting  the 
umbilical  cord  and  allowing  a  few  spoonfuls  of  blood  to  escape.* 

"  It  would  seem  that  the  theory  on  which  such  practice  is  based,  however 
plausible  it  may  seem,  is  unsound  in  fact.  Even  if  there  were  any  evidence  to 
prove  that  there  can  be  a  dangerous  congestion  of  the  head  and  lungs  during 
the  labor,  the  active  cause  is  over  as  soon  as  the  child  is  born.  Bleeding  the 
child  then  is  like  locking  the  doors  after  the  thief  has  left  the  premises.  Such, 
congestion,  if  present,  would  be  best  relieved  by  drawing  the  blood  to  the  sur- 
face and  by  stimulating  the  heart,  rather  than  by  paralyzing  it  by  abstracting 
blood  from  it.  There  are  but  eight  ounces  of  blood  in  the  new-bom  child  and 
*  a  few  spoonfuls '  may  represent  a  respectable  portion  of  the  whole  amount. 

*'  Without  dwelling  further  on  this  point,  it  may  be  said  :  i.  That  it  has  not 
been  shown  that  a  dangerous  passive  congestion  of  the  brain  and  lungs  often 
arises  from  a  prolonged  labor.  2.  That,  even  if  such  a  congestion  existed, 
abstraction  of  blood  from  the  large  vessels  leading  to  the  heart  after  the  birth 
is  completed  is  a  useless  and  dangerous  procedure. 

"As  a  result  of  the  umbilical  bleeding  in  this  case,  what  seemed  a  simple 


t82  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

case  of  asphyxia  was  converted  into  the  most  obstinate  one  I  have  ever  en- 
countered. After  fifteen  minutes  of  artificial  respiration,  with  the  child  in  the 
hot  bath,  it  gave  a  slight  convulsive  gasp.  I  removed  it  and  listened  to  the 
heart  and  found  it  beating  faintly  at  the  rate  of  about  sixty  beats  per  minute. 
Even  as  I  listened,  the  heart-rate  grew  less  and  the  sound  fainter,  and  a  pallor 
spread  over  its  surface.  I  replaced  the  child  in  the  bath  and  recommenced 
treatment.  The  capillaries  of  the  skin  filled  again,  and  after  ten  m.inutes  there 
was  another  attempt  at  inspiration.  These  respiratory  gasps  becoming  more  fre- 
quent and  at  more  regular  intervals,  after  a  half  hour  I  removed  the  child  and 
tried  for  a  minute  the  Schultz  *  swinging  method  '  of  artificial  respiration.  An 
almost  immediate  collapse  was  the  result ;  no  more  efforts  at  inspiration,  and 
the  lips  became  blue  and  the  nose  cold  and  white.  Again  artificial  respiration 
in  the  hot  bath,  for  thirty  minutes  continuously  (making  one  hour  up  to  this 
time),  and  the  spasmodic  gaspings  were  quite  frequent,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
respiration  were  on  the  point  of  being  established.  I  removed  the  child  and 
tried  first  the  Sylvester  method  and  then  the  catheter  in  the  trachea.  The 
gaspings  ceased,  and  very  quickly  the  heart  pulsations  grew  slower  and  fainter. 
Throughout  the  whole  time  during  which  artificial  respiration  was  kept  up  in 
this  case  (a  little  more  than  two  hours)  the  difl&culty  seemed  to  be  in  getting 
the  natural  circulation  established.  In  this  case,  unlike  Case  I.,  the  respiratory 
centres  seemed  ready  to  assume  their  function  but  were  delayed  by  weakness  in 
the  circulatory  centres.  It  took  two  hours  or  more  of  almost  continuous  efforts 
at  artificial  respiration  before  the  function  was  established.  Many  times  I 
stopped  my  efforts  for  a  minute  or  two,  or  tried  other  methods,  when  the  heart- 
rate  invariably  lessened  rapidly,  and  the  case  went  into  a  state  of  collapse. 

"When  respiration  was  at  last  established,  it  was  slow  and  gasping  for 
several  hours.  The  next  day  the  child  had  several  convulsions,  but  these  were 
overcome  by  the  liberal  use  of  bromide  of  potassium,  and  the  child  finally  made 
a  good  recovery.  At  this  writing  the  child  is  eighteen  months  of  age,  and 
mentally  and  physically  bright  and  strong. 

"  During  the  more  than  ten  years  in  which  I  have  practised  the  method  of 
artificial  respiration  given  above,  there  have  been  many  remarkable  cases  of 
recovery  from  asphyxia,  but  the  above  typical  cases  are  sufficient  to  illustrate 
the  principles  of  this  method. 

"  My  conclusions  are  that  in  a  bad  case  of  asphyxia  neonatorum  :  i.  Direct 
insufflation  of  the  lungs  is  imperative.  2.  This  should  be  combined  with  move- 
ments to  increase  the  diameters  of  the  thoracic  cavity.  3.  That  throughout 
the  process  the  temperature  of  the  child's  body  should  be  kept  at  or  above  100** 
F.,  in  order  that  the  action  of  the  heart  may  not  be  impeded. 

**  These  requisites  can  be  met,  so  far  as  known  to  the  writer,  alone  by  the 
method  of  artificial  respiration  given  above." 

Soon  after  the  child  is  delivered  and  breathes,  and  even  when  it 
does  not  breathe,  within  a  reasonable  time  the  umbilical  cord  attach- 
ing it  to  the  placenta  and  circulation  of  the  mother  should  be  twice 
tied  tightly  by  a  narrow  cord,  preferably  of  linen  bobbin.  The  first 
ligature  should  be  made  one  inch  and  a  half  from  the  child,  and  the 
second  three  inches.  It  should  be  tied  tightly.  After  the  ligatures 
are  made  the  cord  should  be  cut  between  them,  and  the  placenta, 


The  Child.  183 

when  born,  be  removed.  The  end  of  the  cord  between  the  point 
where  cut  and  the  point  ligated  should  be  treated  as  follows.  A 
piece  of  soft  linen,  about  three  inches  square  when  folded  four  times, 
with  a  hole  burned  through  the  centre  large  enough  for  the  cord  to 
pass,  is  pulled  over  the  cut  end  to  the  point  ligated,  and  then  that 
portion  folded  carefully  in  and  laid  up,  and  to  the  right,  and  a  band- 
age placed  around  the  child's  body  to  hold  it  in  place.  The  linen 
should  be  well  vaselined  before  it  is  used. 

The  general  details  of  childbirth  and  of  all  complications  should 
properly  be  left  to  experts  when  these  can  be  had.  Still  the  more 
important  points  should  be  understood  by  every  one.  It  is  sufficient 
to  add  here  that  a  serious  delay  in  the  birth  of  the  placenta  is, 
exceedingly  likely  to  cause  post-partum  hemorrhage.  It  is  through 
the  placenta  that  the  unborn  child  receives  its  blood  from  the  mother. 
The  placenta  is  attached  to  the  child  by  the  umbilical  cord,  and  to 
the  uterus  of  the  mother  in  a  general  and  complex  manner.  It> 
should  always  be  bom  within  two  hours  after  the  child.  If  this  is 
not  the  case  your  physician  will  help  its  expulsion  by  external  ma- 
nipulation, by  changing  the  woman's  position,  or  he  should  take  it 
out  by  the  hand  introduced  into  the  uterus.  When  no  physician  is 
present  and  no  bleeding  occurs  the  attendants  may  wait  longer,  but, 
when  serious  bleeding  comes  on,  no  delay  is  safe. 

The  Crede  method  is  the  best  and  safest  way  of  expelling  the 
delayed  placenta.  The  operator  in  this  method  takes  a  napkin  in  his 
hand,  and  at  the  first  pain  seizes  the  uterus  through  the  napkin,  and 
then  gently  expels  the  placenta.  This  method,  or  something  like 
it,  is  practised  by  a  number  of  primitive  peoples  in  delay  of  the 
afterbirth.     (See  Engelmann.) 

In  using  the  Crede  method  care  shoidd  be  taken  not  to  compress 
the  ovaries.  If  the  patient  complains  of  pain  during  the  operation, 
a  new  hold  should  be  taken  with  a  view  of  freeing  the  ovaries  from 
the  grasp  of  the  hand.  The  drawbacks  to  taking  the  placenta  by 
inserting  the  hand  are  two.  First,  the  danger  of  infection  or  injury 
to  the  parts,  and  second,  the  difficulty  of  taking  out  the  placenta 
clean  and  clear,  thus  leaving  after  sources  of  trouble. 

Almost  all  doctors  of  experience  take  the  placenta,  if  it  be  un- 
born, as  soon  as  their  attention  can  be  given  to  it.  This  is  the  best 
course.  If  nature  has  given  out,  the  sooner  the  woman  is  relieved  of 
everything,  and  started  on  the  road  to  recovery,  the  better. 

The  child  after  birth  should  be  carefully  sponged.  The  water 
should  be  blood- warm,  and  may  be  used  after  the  usual  application 
of  oil  or  lard.  In  babes  bom  before  term  washing  may  be  omitted, 
except  as  to  the  eyes,  and  the  oil  alone  applied.     The  baby  should 


184  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

generally  be  wrapped  in  loose,  warm  coverings,  but  not  too  warm, 
and  may  be  dressed  at  the  convenience  of  the  nurse.  The  omission 
of  the  fatigue  of  dressing  for  two  or  three  days  seems  especially 
advantageous  in  babes  of  doubtful  viability.  Babes  after  the  seventh 
month  are  viable. 

While  the  seventh  month  is  generally  considered  the  period  of 
viability,  there  is  now  too  much  evidence  in  favor  of  the  possibility 
of  life  at  the  sixth  month  to  longer  doubt  upon  this  point.  Tarnier, 
by  his  system  of  gavage,  saved  thirty  per  cent,  of  children  born  at 
the  sixth  month.  Dr.  I^lewellyn  Elliot  even  considers  the  child 
viable  under  some  conditions  at  four  months.  When  born  before 
term,  the  greatest  care  must  be  exercised  to  save  them.  The  prac- 
tice in  the  largest  New  York  hospital  is  to  lay  these  little  waifs  in. 
cotton  in  a  box,  and  to  maintain  by  artificial  means  a  constant  warm 
local  temperature. 

The  child  should  be  kept  warm  and  put  to  the  mother's  breast 
very  soon.  The  first  secretions  of  the  mammary  glands  of  the  mother 
are  laxative,  and  clear  the  stomach  and  intestines  of  the  child. 
When  a  natural  movement  does  not  take  place  within  twenty-four 
hours,  half  a  teaspoonful  of  syrup  of  rhubarb  should  be  given.  If 
this  is  not  effective  it  should  be  supplemented  by  a  lukewarm  enema. 
The  baby's  bowels  should  move  once  or  twice  a  day,  but  exceptions 
occur  to  this.  The  mother's  milk  is  the  natural  and  the  best  food 
for  the  child  for  the  first  eight  or  nine  months.  This  is  the  fact  to- 
day, but  how  long  it  will  be  so  cannot  be  told.  Children,  particularly 
amongst  the  poorer  classes,  die  in  frightfully  increased  numbers 
when  deprived  of  their  natural  nourishment. 

If  the  passages  are  of  good  appearance  and  digested,  a  consider- 
able variation  from  this  rule  may  be  allowed. 

The  mortality  amongst  children  fed  by  wet-nurses  is  also  muck 
greater  than  that  by  the  mother-nursed. 

The  importance  of  nursing,  both  to  the  mother  and  child,  is  great. 
Nursing  prevents  too  quick  new  conception,  it  aids  the  return  of  the 
uterus  to  its  normal  condition,  and  prevents  the  origin  of  troubles 
that  frequently  become  chronic  without  it.  In  nursing,  menstrua-^ 
tion  rarely  occurs  before  the  eighth  or  ninth  month,  when  the  baby 
should  be  weaned.  Dr.  Winter's  figures  are  :  of  1,327  women  only 
125  menstruated  while  nursing.  Of  these  125,  40  were  married  and 
85  were  unmarried.  Among  the  latter  insufficient  care  must  be 
considered  as  likely. 

Nursing  is  advantageous  often  in  post-partum  hemorrhage.  The 
excitement  of  the  mammary  gland  causes  reflex  contraction  in  the 
uterus,  tending  to  stop  the  bleeding.     The  mother  who  nurses  her 


The   Child.  185 

child  must  avoid  frights,  excitement,  and  especially  anger.  A  num- 
ber of  curious  cases  are  on  record,  showing  the  influence  of  nerve  or 
mental  conditions  of  the  mother  upon  her  milk,  and  through  it  upon 
her  babe.  There  are  several  authenticated  instances  of  even  the 
death  of  a  baby  on  being  suckled  after  a  violent  fit  of  temper  in  the 
mother. 

Consequently  a  quiet  home-life  is  most  advantageous  at  this  time. 
The  food  of  the  mother  will  also  afiect  her  milk,  and  should  be  care- 
fully watched.  In  cows  the  food  influences  the  color,  smell,  taste, 
specific  gravity,  and  chemical  composition  of  the  milk.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  the  human  female  is  similarly  affected  by  food  in  her 
secretions. 

In  nursing,  both  breasts  should  be  given  the  baby,  not  necessa- 
rily at  the  same  nursing,  but  so  that,  as  far  as  possible,  the  child 
shall  receive  during  the  twenty-four  hours  the  same  amount  from 
each.  The  breasts  are  kept  healthier  in  this  way,  and  the  child  also. 
Recent  researches  on  this  line  in  the  hospital  at  Lyons  show  that  the 
mortality  of  infants  nursed  on  one  breast  exceed  that  of  those  nursed 
on  both  by  twelve  per  cent. 

The  increased  health  and  prospect  in  life  in  the  child  suckled  by 
its  mother  is  most  notable.  Wet-nursing  I  am  opposed  to.  Pre- 
pared foods  or  cow's  milk  properly  diluted  can,  in  case  of  necessity, 
be  given  with  due  care  and  cleanliness,  and  the  baby  live,  but  noth- 
ing can  overcome  the  drawbacks  to  wet-nurses.  These  are  usually 
the  victims  of  seduction.  Their  own  babes  must  be  dead  or  put  out 
to  be  hand-fed.  An  examination  by  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Winters  of  New 
York  shows  that  the  children  of  wet-nurses  almost  invariably  die. 
This  must  affect  the  wet-nurse.  .Losing  her  child  will  cause  her  to 
grieve,  which  will  through  the  milk  react  on  the  foster-child,  or,  if 
she  do  not  grieve  for  her  own  child,  then  such  a  woman  is  of  too 
hard  a  nature  to  entrust  with  a  child  of  any  one  else.  Wet-nurses, 
if  married  and  deserting  their  own  children,  are  unnatural  and  con- 
sequently unreliable. 

If  the  child  of  the  proposed  wet-nurse  is  already  dead,  some 
weakness  of  constitution  or  liability  to  infection  may  be  suspected. 
These  women  not  infrequently  suffer  from  venereal  diseases  which 
they  are  liable  to  impart  to  children  that  suckle  them. 

Foumier  {Syphilis  and  Marriage^  p.  181,  et  seq.^  cites  a  number 
of  cases  showing  the  danger  from  infection  of  syphilis  from  this 
source. 

First  case,  in  Notes:  *'A  nurse  infected  with  syphilis  comes 
into  a  young  family,  whose  infant  is  confided  to  her.  She  infects 
the  child.     The  nature  of  the  morbid  symptom  remains  unrecognized 


1 86  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

at  first,  as  would  almost  necessarily  be  the  case,  so  that  no  precau- 
tions are  taken  against  the  possible  dangers  of  such  a  contamination. 
What  happens?  The  infant  on  its  part  infects,  first,  its  mother; 
second,  its  grandmother  ;  third  and  fourth,  two  nursery  maids  of  the 
family,  girls  of  absolutely  irreproachable  character.  And  the 
young  wife  transmits  the  contagion  to  her  husband  some  months 
later." 

Second  case.  Notes  from  work  of  Amilcare  Ricordi :  "  A  syphi- 
litic nurse  going  into  a  small  village  transmits  syphilis  to  sixteen, 
eighteen,  twenty-three  persons,  and  becomes  the  origin  of  a  small 
local  epidemic." 

Nurses  of  any  kind  introduced  into  a  family  ought  always  to  be 
examined  by  the  family  physician  to  secure,  in  some  measure,  im- 
munity from  danger  of  infection,  not  only  from  the  terrible  malady 
of  syphilis,  but  also  from  other  diseases.  Quite  a  number  of  wet- 
nurses  become  professionals.  They  have  children  only  to  gain  the 
wages  of  wet-nursing,  and  regularly  consign  their  own  offspring  to 
what  the  figures  show  to  be  practically  certain  death. 

Dr.  Winters  gives  some  comparative  statistics  as  to  the  rate  of 
mortality  of  children  nursed  by  mothers  and  those  nursed  by  wet 
nurses. 

BxAMPIvE  I. 

400  children  during  period  of  five  years  : 
Mortality  of  infants  suckled  by  mothers,  16  in  100. 

"  **  wet-nurses,  28  in  100. 

BxAMPi^E  II. 

Observations  on  600  children  from  1872  to  1879 : 
Mortality  of  mother-nursed,  10  in  100. 
"  wet-  **        26  in  100. 


ExAMPi^E  III. 


Paris  : 


Mortality  of  mother-nursed,  10  in  100. 
"         wet-  " .      29  in  100. 

In  Foundling  Hospital : 

Mortality  of  mother-nursed,    6  in  100. 
"  wet-  '*        36  in  100. 

The  sickness  and  weakness  which  each  additional  death  means, 
make  the  contrast  still  more  striking.  The  influence  of  the  midwife 
and  of  the  attending  physician  is  shown  by  Dr.  Winters  to  be  very 
great  in  inducing  mothers  to  suckle  or  not  to  suckle  their  own 
children.  An  inquiry  on  this  subject  showed  that  some  physicians 
had  but  one  in  ten  of  their  patients  in  the  well-to-do  classes  suckle 


The   Child,  187 

their  babes,  while  others  in  the  same  city  had  nineteen  in  twenty  of 
their  patients  perform  this  duty.  Physicians  or  nurses  with  a  bad 
influence  in  this  respect  should  be  avoided. 

Suckling  is  of  paramount  importance  to  the  health  of  the  mother, 
but  there  are  cases  in  which  the  welfare  of  the  child  demands  that 
the  function  should  be  performed  but  a  short  time  or  not  at  all. 
Such  cases  occur  when  the  mother  has  some  constitutional  disease, 
as  consumption,  syphilis,  etc.  Nursing  under  these  circumstances 
may  increase  the  tendency  of  the  child  at  birth  to  the  mother's 
disease.  There  are  also  at  times  abnormal  conditions  in  the  mother's 
milk,  as  excessive  acidity,  which  prevents  proper  nourishment  by 
washing  out  the  phosphates  and  inducing  rickets  in  the  child. 
Under  such  conditions,  which  are  exceptions,  and  with  due  care  in 
marriage  ought  to  be  rare,  hand-feeding  must  be  resorted  to. 

Of  prepared  foods  there  are  many  kinds.  Only  standard  ones 
freshly  made  should  be  used.  Some  of  these  will  suit  one  child  and 
not  another,  so  in  hand-feeding  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  child  must 
be  considered.  Cow's  milk  is  easily  obtained  and  is  cheap.  It  is  a 
complete  food,  and  properly  treated  agrees  with  most  children.  One 
method  of  using  it  is  when  sterilized.  This  is  accomplished  by 
boiling  and  by  tight-sealing  or  corking  of  the  bottle  in  which  it  is 
placed  until  used.  Even  a  cotton  plug  is  sufl&cient  to  prevent  the 
entry  of  germs.  It  should  be  boiled  but  a  few  moments.  The 
objection  to  this  is  the  liability  of  boiled  milk  to  induce  constipation. 
While  this  method  destroys  all  germs,  still  my  own  observation  is 
against  boiled  milk  in  its  effect  on  the  child. 

The  most  recent  examinations  of  the  effects  of  prepared  foods  are 
certainly  unfavorable  to  them.  The  proportion  of  babies  in  a  weak 
or  rickety  condition  on  these  foods  is  very  large.  They  are  largely 
composed  of  starchy  matter,  neither  a  complete  food  in  itself  nor  easy 
of  digestion,  such  as  it  is.  Some  of  them,  fairly  good  if  fresh,  spoil 
easily,  and  must  always  be  suspected  of  too  long  keeping.  Con- 
sequently these  foods  should  only  be  used  as  a  last  resort  and  with 
the  greatest  discrimination. 

One  good  food,  on  condensed  milk  as  a  basis,  is  : 
4  oz.  water. 

1  heaping  teaspoonful  Mellin's  food. 

2  teaspoonfuls  condensed  milk. 
This  is  about  right  for  a  babe  of  ten  months. 

Dr.  Arthur  Meigs,  Dr.  Joseph  Winters,  and  a  number  of  other 
eminent  men  recommend  the  following  food  as  the  best  substitute  for 
mother's  milk  :  milk  3  parts,  cream  i  part,  lime-water  i  part,  boiled 
water  2  parts,  sugar  of  milk  i  part.     Solution  of  bicarbonate  of  soda, 


1 88  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

eight  grains  to  the  ounce,  may  be  substituted  for  the  lime-water  in 
case  the  baby  is  constipated.  In  a  healthy  child,  ordinary  sugar  may 
be  substituted  for  the  expensive  sugar  of  milk.  This  formula  is  for 
a  baby  of  six  months.  It  may  be  modified  in  proportion  to  suit  indi- 
vidual cases  and  different  ages. 

In  all  cases  when  cow's  milk  is  used  the  greatest  care  should  be 
resorted  to  in  feeding  the  cow,  in  its  housing,  in  washing  the  bag  and 
udders  upon  milking,  and  in  seeing  that  the  milker  has  his  hands 
thoroughly  washed,  finger  nails  clean,  and  the  pail  and  filter  scalded. 
The  importance  of  these  precautions  may  be  judged  when  we  learn 
that  in  a  certain  carefully  conducted  creamery  the  I^azell  separator 
accumulated  from  one  thousand  quarts  of  milk  enough  cow  dung  to 
fill  two  hands. 

The  milk  of  a  cow  known  by  examination  to  be  healthy  diluted 
one  half  at  least  with  boiled  water  is  perhaps  the  best  substitute  for 
the  mother's  milk.  Condensed  milk  is  also  good.  In  all  cases  where 
foods  other  than  the  mother's  milk  are  used  the  greatest  care  must  be 
exercised  to  keep  out  germs  and  to  prevent  fermentation.  The  bottles, 
pitchers,  and  vessels  used  should  invariably  be  thoroughly  scalded 
out  before  and  immediately  after  use. 

In  hand-fed  children  rickets  is  exceedingly  liable  to  occur.  Dr. 
I.  M.  Snow  says  :  ''  Rickets  is  largely  confined  to  children  reared 
upon  artificial  food.  Thus,  Trousseau  found  that  among  one  hundred 
rachitic  children,  ninety-eight  had  either  not  been  suckled  at  all  or 
had  been  weaned  very  young. "  ' '  The  correct  proportion  of  fat  to 
the  solids  in  human  milk  is  i  to  4,  but  many  artificial  farinaceous 
foods  contain  a  mere  trace  of  fat,  from  T-2oto  1-200  of  the  total  solids. 
Rickets  is,  according  to  Cheadle,  a  diet  disease  which  may  be  caused 
at  will  by  a  rachitic  diet  and  cured  by  an  anti-rachitic  diet. ' '  Artificial 
foods  are  also  deficient  in  the  earthy  salts. 

The  most  prominent  symptoms  of  rickets  are  pallor  owing  to  the 
poverty  of  the  blood,  sweating  without  sufiicient  cause,  nervous  de- 
rangement shown  by  irritability,  convulsions,  tetanus,  etc. ;  muscular 
languor  and  weakness,  abnormal  condition  of  the  mucous  membrane 
shown  by  bronchitis,  croup,  and  diarrhoea;  weakness  in  the  ligaments 
shown  by  yielding  of  the  spine,  relaxed  knee  and  ankle  joint ;  and 
troubles  in  the  osseous  system  shown  by  the  bending  or  deformity  of 
the  longer  bones,  bending  of  the  ribs,  etc.  These  symptoms  may  be 
all  or  only  partly  present  and  may  be  much  masked. 

Another  symptom  is  delayed  dentition.  The  teeth  should  com- 
mence to  appear  by  the  ninth  month.  If  they  do  not,  the  condition  of 
the  child  and  its  diet  should  be  carefully  inquired  into.  When  rickets 
is  present  or  suspected  the  farinaceous  food  should  be  reduced  to  a 


The  Child.  189 

minimum  and  cod-liver  oil  or  other  fats,  chopped  or  scrapped  raw 
meat,  eggs,  and  all  the  milk  they  can  take  added  to  the  diet.  It  is 
probable  that  in  a  given  meal  much  meat  should  not  be  taken  at  the 
same  time  with  much  milk. 

The  importance  of  looking  out  for  rickets  in  artificially  fed  chil- 
dren is  clear  when  we  reflect  upon  the  large  number  of  rickety  chil- 
dren whose  troubles  are  caused  by  their  diet. 

It  may  be  further  accentuated  by  the  words  of  Sir.  Wm.  Jenner. 
This  distinguished  physician  says  that  rickety  children  are  exceed- 
ingly liable  to  pneumonia,  bronchitis,  and  collapsed  lung.  He  also 
speaks  of  the  excessive  mortality  in  such  children  when  attacked  with 
measles,  whooping-cough,  etc.  According  to  Jenner  more  children 
die  from  rickets  either  primarily  or  secondarily  than  from  any  other 
cause. 

When  a  baby  is  weaned  it  should  be  to  the  spoon  and  cup  and  not 
to  the  bottle  ;  this  for  safety  on  account  of  the  diflSculty  of  keeping 
the  bottles  sweet  and  clean  and  the  danger  in  their  almost  inevitable 
retention  of  some  residuum  which  ferments  and  so  injures  the  child's 
digestion  by  polluting  the  food. 

Teething  is  usually  a  troublesome  and  sometimes  a  critical  time 
for  children.  If  the  irritation  caused  by  the  teeth  in  cutting  through 
the  gum  is  excessive  a  reflex  derangement  of  the  digestion  is  exceed- 
ingly likely  to  occur.  Consequently  great  care  in  the  diet  must  at 
this  time  be  exercised.  In  case  the  teeth  do  not  come  through  the 
gum  readily,  the  difficulty  may  be  decreased  by  lancing.  Lancing 
the  gums,  however,  if  prematurely  done,  may  have  a  contrary  effect. 
The  wound  heals  up  before  the  tooth  comes  through  and  the  cicatrized 
tissue  is  harder  for  the  tooth  to  pierce  than  was  the  normal  gum. 
Nurses  to  help  in  the  care  of  children  lighten  the  labors  of  the  mother. 
The  persons  seeking  this  employment  are  usually  irresponsible  and 
unreliable.  Sometimes  they  resort  to  very  reprehensible  and  inj  urious 
means  to  quiet  the  child  under  their  care.  Anodynes  and  narcotics 
are  common  causes  of  injury  to  children  from  this  source.  Other  and 
still  worse  things  are  done  to  quiet  the  child,  such  as  tampering  with 
the  sexual  organs,  etc. 

It  is  therefore  necessary  to  watch  all  nurses  closely  and  to  use  the 
greatest  care  in  selecting  them.  The  babe  should  always  have  a 
basket  or  a  crib  to  itself. 

It  should  never  sleep  in  the  same  bed  with  the  mother.  The 
reason  for  this  is  the  danger  to  the  baby  of  being  suffocated. 

Every  year  in  London  a  great  number  of  babies  lose  their  lives 
in  this  way,  and  the  mother  in  her  sleep  unconsciously  destroys  the 
child  so  precious  to  her  heart. 


IQO  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

lyondon  is  no  exception  to  the  general  rule,  for  the  average  of 
infant  deaths  from  this  cause  wherever  it  has  been  examined  shows 
a  similar  condition  to  prevail.  It  is  a  real  danger  and  should  be 
carefully  guarded  against.  Folding  beds  are  dangerous.  Fifty-six 
children  were  suffocated  in  New  York  by  being  accidentally  shut  up 
in  these  beds  last  year. 

Medicines  should  be  avoided  with  children.  Hot  applications, 
poultices,  such  as  those  made  ot  onions,  flaxseed,  etc.,  rubbings, 
etc.,  are  good  when  necessary  and  can  rarely  do  harm,  but  medicines 
in  their  effect  are  too  uncertain,  and,  if  improperly  employed,  too 
injurious  to  be  used  except  in  serious  cases  and  with  skilled  advice. 

In  the  sickness  of  children  as  in  all  sickness  the  nursing  is  what 
saves.  A  good  nurse  is  more  important  than  a  good  doctor.  Every 
one  should  study  somewhat  of  nursing.  Care  and  cleanliness,  cloth- 
ing and  diet,  these  are  the  vital  questions.  Over-attention  and 
coddling  will  prevent  a  due  development  of  the  constitution  and 
predispose  to  disease.  This  should  be  avoided.  The  importance  of 
having  the  nursing  done  under  the  direction  of  a  physician  is  very 
great.  In  all  cases  of  a  serious  kind  the  best  physician  attainable 
should  be  employed  at  once.  Never  hesitate  about  sending  for  the 
best.     He  will  be  cheapest  in  the  end. 

In  the  sickness  of  children,  the  rule  should  be  isolation  of  the 
sick  one,  not  only  from  the  healthy  members  of  the  family  but  from 
any  other  sick  one  as  well ;  from  the  healthy  ones  on  account  of 
the  danger  of  communicating  the  disease  from  the  sick  to  the  well. 
Even  should  no  spread  of  the  specific  malady  occur,  there  is  a  cer- 
tainty of  lowering  the  vitality  of  the  well  ones  exposed,  especially 
dtuing  sleep,  to  the  air  of  the  sick-room.  From  the  sick  ones  the 
sick  should  be  separated.  This  is  on  account  of  the  danger  of  infec- 
tion or  contagion,  if  the  diseases  be  different,  and  on  account  of  the 
certainty  of  increasing  the  intensity  of  the  disease,  if  the  malady  be 
the  same,  by  every  additional  patient  placed  in  a  room  or  ward. 

Experience  has  been  general  in  showing  that  with  equal  care 
isolated  patients  always  do  best.  This  superior  prospect  of  recovery 
holds  good  even  where  the  care  and  conditions  are  very  unfavorable 
to  the  isolated. 

The  mortality  of  children  from  cholera  infantum  and  kindred 
diseases  is  usually  greater  in  infant  hospitals  than  it  is  anywhere  else. 
The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  hospital  epidemics  of  infectious  pneu- 
monia, of  erysipelas,  of  blood-poisoning  in  wounds  and  surgical 
operations,  and  of  puerperal  fever  in  lying-in  hospitals. 

In  our  late  war  it  was  shown  that  small -pox  had  an  average  in- 
crease of  intensity  and  mortality  in  the  individual  corresponding  with 


The  Child,  191 

average  increase  of  patients  placed  together.  Owing  to  this  fact, 
better  results  were  obtained  in  every  case  where  tents  were  used  for 
hospitals  than  in  even  the  best  arranged  buildings.  In  isolating  sick 
members  of  a  family,  the  attic  or  upper  rooms  should  be  preferred, 
for  the  top  of  a  house  may  be  shut  off  from  communication  with  the 
rest  of  the  house  better  than  the  lower  floors.  There  also  seems  a 
greater  facility  of  infection  from  below  upward  than  from  above 
downward.  If  the  household  arrangements  do  not  permit  of  isola- 
tion in  the  house,  a  tent  or  tents  should  be  bought  or  hired  for  the 
purpose.  Such  expense  in  the  commencement  will  save  in  the 
length  and  intensity  of  the  disease  in  the  individual,  and  will  prevent 
additional  cases  with  their  consequent  increase  of  expense  for  doctor 
and  nurse.  In  cold  climates  the  use  of  tents  is  of  course  limited. 
Convalescence  will  be  safer  and  quicker,  and  many  lives  will  be  saved 
that  otherwise  would  be  lost  by  the  isolation  of  the  sick.  Thus  the 
poor  may  calculate  that  a  dollar  spent  in  these  precautions  will  not 
only  diminish  suffering  and  save  life,  but  will  save  tens  and  perhaps 
hundreds  of  dollars  in  money. 

The  human  system  has  a  great  power  of  resisting  morbific  influ- 
ences. The  blood  corpuscles  will  encyst  or  destroy  a  considerable 
number  of  germs  or  active  individuals  of  various  kinds  of  minute 
life  injurious  or  fatal  in  large  numbers  to  the  body.  Some  individ- 
uals and  some  conditions  of  the  system  have  this  power  more  than 
others  :  for  instance,  gouty  persons  have,  according  to  some,  a  con- 
siderable resistance  to  all  contagious  diseases,  and  while  great  suf- 
ferers from  their  own  malady  rarely  take  anything  else.  So  also, 
individuals  capable  of  resisting  contagion  or  infection  at  one  time 
may  be  extremely  susceptible  at  another. 

The  acid  diathesis  seems  that  most  resistant  to  the  specific  attack 
of  microscopic  life. 

The  Italian  system  of  treating  malarial  fevers  seems,  if  this  be 
correct,  to  rest  on  a  secure  basis.  They  give  large  amounts  of  lemon 
juice  in  these  cases  and  have  better  results  from  this  than  from  any 
other  treatment. 

It  appears  probable,  therefore,  that  in  cases  of  contagious  or  in- 
fectious disease,  a  large  amount  of  lemon  or  orange  juice  would  be 
beneficial.  I  have  found  this  course  of  personal  advantage  in  malarial 
fever.  I^arge  amounts  of  acid  given  for  yellow  fever  at  Panama 
proved  better  than  the  usual  treatment. 

In  the  body,  in  the  ground,  and  in  the  air  we  are  in  continual 
contact  with  the  minute  life,  capable  of  producing  specific  disease, 
and  without  which  such  specific  diseases  are  probably  impossible. 
Their  dangerous  activity  in  the  system  seems  to  be  due  to  two  causes  : 


192  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

first,  the  favorable  condition  of  the  system  for  their  development, 
such  as  low  vitality,  wounds,  etc.  ;  and  second,  the  presence  of  such 
specific  minute  life  in  considerable  quantity. 

In  some  cases,  diseases  due  to  bacteria,  etc. ,  will  arise  more  from 
the  first  of  these  causes  ;  in  others,  more  from  the  second. 

In  the  streets  of  a  city,  we  must  breathe  many  germs  of  certain 
diseases  every  day.  The  air  in  the  crowded  portions  of  Paris  has 
been  shown  to  contain  thousands  of  germs  and  germ  life  per  square 
foot  of  air,  to  one  such  life  in  the  square  foot  of  air  of  country  dis- 
tricts near  by. 

Consumptive  persons  spit  in  the  streets,  the  sputa  become  dry, 
and  the  germ  life  of  the  bacillus  tuberculosis  must  mingle  with  the 
dust  of  the  city  and  be  breathed  by  the  inhabitants.  The  micro- 
organism said  to  be  the  specific  infection  of  pneumonia  is  found  in 
the  buccal  secretions  of  healthy  persons,  so  also  are  the  pus  organ- 
isms, staphylococcus  pyogenes  aureus,  albus,  and  citreus.  The 
tetanus  bacillus  is  widely  distributed,  and  is  especially  numerous  in 
rich  loam,  as  that  generally  worked  in  by  gardeners  and  farmers. 

Still  the  frequent  contact  of  these  forms  of  life  with  the  body  is 
not  necessarily  infectious  or  fatal.  But  when  large  numbers  of  them 
accumulate,  as  in  hospital  wards,  cesspools,  drains,  tenement  houses, 
etc. ,  persons  of  lowered  vitality  are  extremely  likely  to  come  under  the 
influence  of  one  or  more  kinds  of  them,  and  persons  in  good  vigor 
may  also  become  subject  to  these  diseases. 

A  peculiarity  of  some  of  these  micro-organisms  such  as  those  of 
small-pox,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  chicken-pox,  whooping-cough, 
etc.,  is  that  once  having  run  a  course  in  the  human  body,  they  are 
as  a  rule  incapable  of  another  attack.  In  practice  we  find  that  one 
attack  by  any  of  these  organisms  is  a  guaranty  against  a  second  one. 
Even  when  an  exception  occurs,  the  second  attack  is  usually  mild. 
This  is  the  philosophy  of  vaccination  to  prevent  or  render  innocuous 
the  dreadful  and  disgusting  disease  of  small-pox. 

All  children  should  be  vaccinated  in  their  first  year  and  until  the 
vaccination  takes.  At  the  same  time,  the  greatest  possible  care 
should  be  taken  to  have  the  vaccine  secured  direct  from  a  reliable 
source,  and  to  have  the  operator's  hands  and  instruments  clean. 
The  reason  of  this  is  the  frequent  introduction  into  the  body  of 
dangerous  germs  with  those  of  the  vaccine,  and  the  consequent 
disease  or  death  of  the  patient.  A  great  number  of  diseases  have 
been  transmitted  in  this  way.  Sometimes  one  source  of  infection, 
such  as  a  diseased  child,  will  cause  an  epidemic  when  virus  taken 
from  it  is  used  to  vaccinate  others. 

At  about  the  sixth  and  fifteenth  years  children  should  be  re- 


The   Child,  193 

vaccinated.  The  importatice  of  vaccination  may  be  judged  by  the 
results  of  the  vaccination  and  re-vaccination  in  the  German  army. 
During  the  Franco- Prussian  war  of  1870  the  Germans  lost  during 
the  whole  campaign  out  of  913,967  eJBfectives  but  261  men  from 
small-pox.  At  the  same  time  in  the  less  carefully  tended  French 
army  there  was  a  death-rate  from  small-pox  of  67.60  in  the  1000. 
Here  is  indeed  a  remarkable  difference.  A  way  will  probably  be 
found  to  prevent  other  contagious  diseases  such  as  scarlet  fever  in 
the  same  manner  as  is  now  practised  for  small-pox. 

Other  classes  of  micro-organisms  seem  on  the  contrary  only  the 
more  likely  to  find  a  lodgment  in  the  body  after  once  running  a 
course  in  it.  Some  such  are  those  of  diphtheria,  all  the  malarial 
organisms,  gonorrhoea,  etc.  Persons  having  had  an  attack  of  the 
first  class  of  organisms  are  indicated  as  nurses  or  attendants  for  a 
disease  produced  by  such  a  cause  in  others  on  account  of  the  prob- 
able immunity  from  recontracting  the  trouble.  In  the  second  class 
it  is  exactly  the  reverse.  The  value  of  disinfecting  sick-rooms,  the 
clothing,  the  person,  the  excrements,  etc.,  has  been  clearly  demon- 
strated. Equally  the  value  of  cleanliness,  care,  and  careful  antisepsis 
in  surgery  is  shown  in  the  records  of  our  hospitals  and  private 
practice.  All  this  is  known  by  the  intelligent.  It  is  also  generally 
understood  that  various  specific  micro-organisms  are  widely  diffused  ; 
that  these  accumulated  in  considerable  numbers  are  dangerous  if  not 
deadly,  and  that  therefore  all  means  favorable  to  their  reproduction, 
by  which  they  become  concentrated,  as  excrements,  drains,  piles  of 
rubbish,  swill,  general  uncleanliness,  confined  damp  as  in  un- 
ventilated  cellars,  etc.,  should  be  habitually  disinfected,  removed, 
or  destroyed. 

In  connection  with  infectious  and  contagious  diseases  it  seems 
appropriate  to  call  attention  here  to  the  frequency  and  intensity  of 
so-called  children's  diseases  in  armies.  The  necessary  crowding  of 
soldiers  and  the  customary  if  not  necessary  crowding  of  children  in 
their  sleeping-rooms  may  be  the  principal  promoter  of  these  diseases 
in  both  cases.  From  considerable  inquiry,  only  children  seem  largely 
exempt  from  these  diseases.  Whether  their  exemption  is  due  to 
no  crowding  or  to  other  causes  is  not  certain,  but  it  seems  reasonable 
to  attribute  some  relation  between  crowding  and  the  frequency  of 
these  diseases. 

The  health  of  the  child  is  best  maintained  by  fresh  air,  exercise, 
and  good  food. 

The  food  should  be  administered  at  regular  times,  diminished  in 
frequency  as  the  child  grows  older,  and  until  three  meals  a  day  is 
attained.     This  rule  applies  to  suckled  children  as  well  as  to  those 


194  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

weaned  or  hand-fed.  At  about  the  sixth  month  healthy  children 
should  no  longer  be  suckled  or  fed  at  night.  By  night  is  meant  the 
time  between  the  hours  of  lo  p.m.  and  5  a.m.,  or  ii  p.m.  and  6  a.m. 
The  interval  may  be  gradually  lengthened  as  the  child  grows  older. 

The  times  of  exercise,  sleep,  and  evacuations  should  all  be  care- 
fully regulated,  and  the  child  be  kept  out-doors  as  much  as  possible. 
In  the  matter  of  sleep  a  child  can  not  have  too  much.  All  young 
children  should  be  given  an  opportunity  to  sleep  in  the  middle  of  the 
day.  When  the  baby's  meals  are  at  regular  times,  its  hours  of  rest 
fixed,  its  excretions  of  waste  matter  encouraged  at  certain  times,  and 
its  opportunities  of  free  exercise  and  investigation  made  ample,  the 
mother  will  find  child-care  easy  and  not  excessive  in  its  demands 
upon  her  time. 

Even  with  a  large  family,  the  helpless  ones  will  never  be  too 
numerous  to  make  proper  care  by  one  woman  impossible.  At  the 
fourth  birth  at  least,  the  first  baby  will  have  become  capable  of 
partial  self-care  and  of  helping  the  mother  as  well.  The  order  im- 
planted in  a  child's  life  by  assistance  of  the  mother  will  remain  with 
it  through  life,  and  the  young  child  growing  up  will  become,  as  it 
should,  a  help  and  not  an  increase  to  the  mother's  care. 

One  of  the  great  things  for  a  young  mother  to  learn  is,  after  doing 
the  essentials  for  the  child,  to  let  it  alone.  The  error  of  most 
mothers  is  interfering  too  much  with  the  baby's  investigations  and 
in  often  rewarding  it  for  crying. 

The  tendency  of  women  of  force  and  character,  as  well  as  of  the 
foolish  and  ignorant,  is  often  to  do  too  much  for  the  child.  To  think 
and  act  for  the  young  child  is  necessary  in  many  cases,  but  this 
should  never  go  beyond  what  is  necessary,  for  to  the  extent  that  it 
does  so,  the  individuality  and  self-reliance  of  the  child  will  be 
injured  and  its  character  lack  development. 

The  rule  should  be  to  see  to  the  evacuations  of  the  baby  at  a 
regular  time,  to  change  it  at  regular  times,  to  feed  it  at  regular 
times,  to  give  it  rest  at  regular  times,  to  wash  it  at  regular  times,  to 
dress  it  according  to  climate  so  that  it  is  properly  warm,  but  not 
clumsily  clothed  nor  decked  in  anything  expensive,  and  then  put 
the  baby  down  on  the  floor  or  ground  as  soon  as  it  can  sit  up  and 
let  it  play  and  find  out  things  for  itself. 

The  fact  may  be  borne  in  mind  that  our  conduct  to  the  new-born 
child  is  necessarily  based  on  a  reward  for  incapacity ;  but  that  in 
mature  life  the  rewards  of  the  world  to  the  then  grown  child  will  on 
the  contrary  be  based  on  capacity.  Consequently  the  parent,  while 
conforming  to  the  first  necessity,  must  prepare  the  child  for  the 
second. 


The  Child,  ig^ 

The  will-power  and  self-reliance  of  the  child  should  be  built  up 
as  fast  as  possible.  A  child  should  not  be  allowed  to  derive  advan- 
tage by  an  appeal  from  the  judgment  of  one  parent  to  the  other. 
The  parents  must  sustain  each  other  in  public  and  before  the  child, 
and  settle  their  policy  in  private. 

A  good  night-dress  for  restless  infants  is  one  made  like  a  loose 
bag  to  be  fastened  at  the  neck.  It  may  have  sleeves,  but  should  not 
provide  separately  for  the  legs.  This  device  prevents  the  child  from 
ever  being  entirely  exposed  to  the  cold  and  chill  winter  nights.  If 
the  circumstances  warrant  the  whole  bed-clothing  may  be  arranged 
on  the  same  plan.  In  putting  children  to  bed  they  should  be  accus- 
tomed to  no  adventitious  proceedings.  Stories  should  never  be  told 
at  bedtime.  A  healthy  child  should  never  be  rocked  to  sleep  nor 
accustomed  to  anything  unnecessary  for  its  welfare.  A  well-trained 
child  is  as  sleepy  as  an  ill-trained  one.  All  things  likely  to 
attract  the  child's  attention  must  to  some  extent  prevent  or  retard 
the  approach  of  natural  rest  in  sleep.  When  bedtime  comes,  a  child 
should  expect  nothing  but  sleep.  When  it  has  been  prepared  for 
bed,  to  bed  it  should  go.  It  should  be  saluted  for  the  night,  the 
light  should  be  extinguished,  and  the  child  left  to  sleep.  A  con- 
siderable amount  of  wear  and  tear  is  saved  by  this  system.  No 
possible  advantage  is  lost  to  the  child,  its  temper  is  not  tried  by  a 
resistance  to  excessive  or  inopportune  demands  for  unessential  rock- 
ings,  songs,  stories,  or  company,  and  the  mother's  energy  is  liberated 
for  other  things. 

Very  great  care  must  be  exercised  by  parents  to  avoid  themselves 
and  to  prevent  others  from  frightening  the  children  by  unreal  crea- 
tions of  the  fancy.  Parents  and  nurses  too  often  endeavor  to  main- 
tain their  authority  by  a  weak  method,  that  sooner  or  later  will  be 
found  out  in  its  falsity  by  the  child.  This  method  is  to  threaten  the 
child  with  goblins,  bears,  devils,  etc. ,  and  to  people  the  dark  with 
torturing  terrors.  A  child  seems  to  have  no  natural  objection  to  the 
dark,  and  the  frequent  fear  observable  on  this  point  in  the  young 
must  be  attributed  to  the  faulty,  nay,  criminal  influence  of  those 
around  them.  The  reaction  in  the  child,  when  the  deception  is  dis- 
covered, is  a  fertile  cause  of  silent  alienation.  This  practice  secures 
obedience  less  well  than  a  plain,  consistent,  and  straightforward 
course.  It  causes  great  and  useless  suffering  in  the  child,  and 
eventually  confidence  in  the  parent  is  undermined  and  the  moral 
nature  is  shaken  to  its  false  foundation.  A  falsehood  should  under  no 
circumstances  be  told  a  child.     With  children  be  silent  or  be  truthful. 

The  child  is  imitative  and  is  consequently  much  influenced  by 
those  who  make  up  its  entourage. 


196  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

The  language,  the  accent,  the  grammar,  the  mental  bent,  and  the 
religious  views  of  children  are  all  largely  influenced  by  the  persons 
who  surround  them.  Thus  it  must  be  seen  that  the  delegation  of 
the  care  of  her  children  to  servants,  by  the  average  mother  of  means, 
is  fraught  with  danger  to  her  progeny. 

Accents  and  methods  of  speech  of  an  inferior  kind  become  fixed, 
and  superstitious  and  other  false  and  inferior  views  of  religion  are 
stamped  into  the  nature  of  the  child. 

My  nurses  implanted  in  me,  amongst  other  things,  the  idea  that 
to  see  the  new  moon  over  the  left  shoulder  was  unlucky,  and  over 
the  right,  lucky.  So  strong  was  this  conviction  that  during  my 
youth  I  made  a  business  of  always  seeing  the  new  moon  over  my 
right  shoulder,  and  when  I  saw  it  over  the  left,  by  any  accident,  it 
made  me  feel  exceedingly  uncomfortable.  To  this  day  my  first  view 
of  a  new  moon  brings  up  at  once  the  idea  that  I  ought  to  see  it  over 
my  right  shoulder,  and  I  believe  that  I  feel  better,  at  least  for  a  few 
moments,  when  I  do.  If  a  ridiculous  and  baseless  superstition  of 
this  kind  implanted  in  youth  can  take  such  a  hold,  must  w^e  not  be 
compelled  to  admit  that  impressions  in  regard  to  the  serious  matters 
of  life  may  be  received  by  the  child  from  the  same  sources  and  of 
the  same  untrue  character. 

The  impressions  of  early  childhood  are  hard  to  eradicate.  Many 
of  these  remain  throughout  life  in  spite  of  everything  that  can  be 
done  to  get  rid  of  them.  The  impressions  of  children  derived  from 
nurses,  servants,  associates,  and  books  cannot  be  too  carefully 
looked  after.  Servants  should  be  commanded  to  say  nothing  on 
religion  to  children.  That  should  come  from  the  parents.  The 
child,  of  course,  must  not  be  enslaved  and  ruined  in  these  cautions 
to  prevent  a  possible  ruin  in  the  open  world,  but  care  can  easily  be 
taken  to  provide  the  proper  surroundings,  and,  as  the  child  grows 
older,  to  put  the  proper  kind  of  reading  matter  in  its  way  and  throw 
it  in  association  with  the  best  class  of  children.  A  proper  bringing- 
up  will  make  a  child  despise  and  avoid  the  vulgar  and  low,  both  in 
books  and  friends.  Cast-iron  rules  cannot  do  it.  In  extreme  youth 
alone  is  the  complete  and  absolute  regulation  of  association  service- 
able. It  is  then  also  that  the  child  cannot  be  a  free  agent.  Often 
when  parents  or  mentors  correct  a  child,  they  themselves  do  the  very 
things  against  which  they  have  cautioned  it.  I  have  frequently  been 
caught  in  this  way.  When  one's  attention  is  called  to  such  a  matter, 
the  error  should  be  acknowledged  and  caution  used  to  prevent  a 
repetition.  Example  is  too  good  a  teacher  to  be  given  the  oppor- 
tunity to  inculcate  error  in  a  child. 

Every  freedom  should  be  given  a  baby  that  is  possible  and  con- 


The  Child.  197 

sistent  with  safety  from  real  danger.  Little  falls,  bumps,  etc.,  it 
must  have  in  the  course  of  its  investigations,  and  the  sooner  it  has 
them  the  sooner  will  it  be  able  to  care  for  itself.  A  child  should  be 
told  '*  don't "  and  similar  words  as  seldom  as  possible,  but  when  you 
do  say  "  don't,"  mean  it,  and  make  the  baby  stop  what  you  object 
to.  So  with  all  things  in  a  child's  life,  give  them  as  much  freedom 
as  you  can  ;  never  nag  them,  but  when  you  do  give  an  order,  mean 
it,  and  have  it  carried  out. 

Reiteration  of  advice  and  correction  is,  doubtless,  to  some  extent 
necessary.  Such  action  always  weakens  advice  or  correction  in  new 
matters,  tries  and  irritates  both  parent  and  child,  and  should  be 
avoided  as  far  as  possible. 

The  eflSiciency  of  natural  penalties  in  early  childhood  to  avoid 
physical  harm  is  so  clear  that  natural  penalties  for  unwise  conduct 
should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  availed  of.  This  practice,  with  proper 
precaution,  may  be  extended  to  moral  matters.  If  a  child  be  late  in 
getting  ready  for  meals,  walks,  etc.,  deprive  the  child  of  such  meal 
or  walk,  as  the  case  may  be.  One  or  two  lessons  will  cure  nearly 
any  starting  bad  habit  of  this  kind.  Violent  or  personal  chastise- 
ment is  the  last  thing  to  resort  to.  It  always  drives  the  parent  and 
child  apart,  and  associates  the  rewards  and  penalties  of  conduct  to 
the  personal  and  often  arbitrary  opinion  of  the  parent.  A  child  may 
pick  up  a  hot  coal  twice,  but  that  is  the  extreme  limit  of  ignorance 
as  to  its  effect.  Herbert  Spencer,  in  Education,  puts  this  matter  very 
clearly.     He  says : 

*'  Penalties  which  the  necessary  reaction  of  things  round  upon  them — pen- 
alties which  are  inflicted  by  impersonal  agency  produce  an  irritation  that  is 
comparatively  slight  and  transient ;  whereas,  penalties  which  are  voluntarily 
inflicted  by  a  parent,  and  are  afterwards  remembered  as  caused  by  him  or  her, 
produce  an  irritation  both  greater  and  more  continued.  Just  consider  how  dis- 
astrous would  be  the  result  if  this  empirical  method  were  pursued  from  the 
beginning.  Suppose  it  were  possible  for  parents  to  take  upon  themselves  the 
physical  suflferings  entailed  on  their  children  by  ignorance  and  awkwardness ; 
and  that  while  bearing  these  evil  consequences  they  visited  on  their  children 
certain  other  evil  consequences,  with  the  view  of  teaching  them  the  impropriety 
of  their  conduct. 

**  Suppose  that  when  a  child,  who  had  been  forbidden  to  meddle  with  the 
kettle,  spilt  some  boiling  water  on  its  foot,  the  mother  assumed  the  scald  and 
gave  a  blow  in  place  of  it ;  and  similarly  in  all  other  cases.  Would  not  the 
daily  mishaps  be  sources  of  far  more  anger  tlian  now  ?  Would  there  not  be 
chronic  ill-temper  on  both  sides  ?  Yet  an  exactly  parallel  policy  is  pursued  in 
after  years.  A  father  who  punishes  his  boy  for  carelessly  or  wilfully  breaking 
a  sister's  toy,  and  then  himself  pays  for  a  new  toy,  does  substantially  the  same 
thing— inflicts  an  artificial  penalty  on  himself ;  his  own  feelings  and  those  of 
the  transgressor  being  alike  needlessly  irritated.  If  he  simply  required  resti- 
tution to  be  made,  he  would  produce  far  less  heart-burning." 


198  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

Again  Spencer  says,  p.  186  : 

**  It  is  a  vice  of  the  common  system  of  artificial  rewards  and  punishments, 
long  since  noticed  by  the  clear-sighted,  that  by  substituting  for  the  natural 
results  of  misbehavior  certain  threatened  tasks  or  castigations,  it  produces  a 
radically  wrong  standard  of  moral  guidance.  Having  throughout  infancy  and 
boyhood  always  regarded  parental  or  tutorial  displeasure  as  the  result  of  for- 
bidden action,  the  youth  has  gained  an  established  association  of  ideas  between 
such  action  and  such  displeasure,  as  cause  and  effect ;  and,  consequently, 
when  parents  and  tutors  have  abdicated,  and  their  displeasure  is  not  to  be 
feared,  the  restraint  on  a  forbidden  action  is,  in  great  measure,  removed  ;  the 
true  restraints,  the  natural  reactions,  having  yet  to  be  learned  by  sad  expe- 
rience. As  writes  one  who  has  had  personal  knowledge  of  this  short-sighted 
system  :  *  Young  men  let  loose  from  school,  particularly  those  whose  parents 
have  neglected  to  exercise  their  influence,  plunge  into  every  description  of 
extravagance ;  they  know  no  rule  of  action,  they  are  ignorant  of  the  reasons 
for  moral  conduct,  they  have  no  foundation  to  rest  upon,  and  until  they  have 
been  severely  disciplined  by  the  world,  are  extremely  dangerous  members 
of  society.' " 

The  whole  of  Spencer's  book  is  worthy  of  quotation,  and  I  desire 
that  it  should  be  studied. 

The  dangerous  dissipation  into  which  many  young  men  run  when 
freed,  or  even  partially  freed,  from  restraint  shows  the  error  spoken 
of.  Such  young  men  are  supposed  to  be  well  brought  up,  but  they 
have  to  learn  that  a  violation  of  nature's  laws  is  always  followed  by 
a  punishment,  and  that  the  laws  of  society,  generally  following  the 
rules  of  nature,  when  violated,  bring  their  punishment  with  nearly 
equal  certainty.  Many  yotmg  people  never  escape  from  the  muck 
they  are  thus  ignorantly  gotten  into.  The  true  formative  and  recep- 
tive moments  in  their  lives  having  passed,  they  are  no  longer  capable 
of  a  comprehension  of  the  lessons  of  life,  and,  started  on  the  wrong 
road,  are  unable  either  to  come  back  or  to  be  brought  back.  It  must 
be  evident  to  any  one  who  will  reflect  that  the  true  natural  or  social 
penalty  of  an  offence  is  the  one  to  invoke  and  to  depend  upon  when 
possible.  A  child  brought  up  as  thus  indicated  has  a  sure  and  cer- 
tain foimdation  for  its  acts.  When  the  personal  equation  comes  up 
in  a  child's  government,  as  it  probably  must  occasionally,  be  consis- 
tent and  firm.  It  will  require  but  a  few  struggles  from  time  to  time 
to  convince  the  child  that  you  mean  business  when  you  talk,  and  do 
but  follow  nature  itl  your  rules. 

Thus,  instead  of  the  thorns  so  many  plant  in  their  own  and  in 
their  children's  paths,  there  will  be  roses  full  of  beauty  and  pleasure. 
If  you  are  continually  nagging  at  a  child,  and  saying  "  don't "  to 
every  effort  it  makes  to  answer  nature's  call  for  exercise  and  inves- 
tigation, you  will  reduce  a  healthy  child  to  desperation.     It  ought 


The  Child, 


199 


not  to  remain  still,  and  it  cannot  without  artificial  restraint.  You 
also  weaken  your  control,  and  bring  it  into  contempt.  Your  temper 
and  that  of  the  child  will  become  irritated.  Place  the  child  where 
it  can  play  and  roll  and  get  dirty  and  make  a  noise,  and  let  it  alone 
as  much  as  is  consistent  with  safety.  It  is  a  study  well  worthy  of 
careful  attention  to  learn  to  save  yourself  from  unnecessary  interfer- 
ence with  the  child,  annoying  to  you  and  injurious  to  the  little  one. 

A  spoiled  child  is  one  unduly  indulged,  and  is  most  often  spoiled 
by  too  much  interference  without  the  interference  having  been  com- 
plete. Thus  a  mother  says  "don't"  and  lets  the  child  goon.  It 
would  be  a  thousand  times  better  never  to  have  said  the  obnoxious 
word.  The  child  is  annoyed  and  not  controlled  by  such  a  course  and 
soon  becomes  a  nuisance. 

Activity  in  a  child  is  to  be  expected.  When  it  is  not  found  there 
is  something  wrong.  The  thing  to  do  is  to  provide  the  youngster 
with  a  legitimate  means  of  exercising  it.  Say  **  don't "  to  things  that 
must  not  be  done  and  do  not  allow  them  to  be  done.  But  be  careful 
not  to  carry  the  word  into  unnecessary  use,  and  make  an  earnest  study 
to  have  nature  give  this  command  for  you. 

The  cry  is  the  child's  first  means  of  making  known  its  wants.  A 
certain  amount  of  crying  therefore  is  proper  in  a  baby  and  probably 
does  it  good  in  the  way  of  exercise  and  expanding  the  lungs,  but 
unless  guarded  against,  crying,  as  the  child  grows  older,  is  likely  to 
degenerate  into  a  tyranny  destructive  to  both  the  happiness  of  mother 
and  child  and  in  fact  to  the  happiness  of  the  household.  The  mother 
should  therefore  keep  a  judicious  watch,- not  only  on  the  child,  but 
on  herself  to  prevent  the  *'  cry  "  for  food  or  attention  proper  in  the 
infant  from  becoming  a  characteristic  of  the  older  child  used  to  obtain 
its  wishes  when  obstructed.  The  best  means  of  preventing  this  result 
is  by  not  giving  the  child  what  it  cries  for  and  not  doing  what  the 
child  cries  to  have  done.  In  other  words,  never  reward  crying.  This 
policy  carried  out  in  the  household  will  put  a  prompt  stop  to  crying 
as  a  tyranny.  Children  when  hurt  generally  cry,  and  sympathy  and 
care  should  not  be  withheld  on  this  account. 

All  things  unnecessary  for  a  baby  are  more  or  less  harmful  and 
are  often  much  more  so  in  their  ultimate  effects  than  one  might  sup- 
pose. Babies  and  young  children  are  often  held  in  the  arms  when 
they  are  not  feeding  or  at  times  are  tossed  or  dandled.  These  practices 
are  dangerous.  A  child  much  held  is  more  subject  to  catch  cold  than 
if  not  so  held,  on  account  of  the  changes  of  temperature  to  which  it 
is  subjected.  A  child  dandled  or  tossed  is  liable  to  serious  injuries 
without  any  chance  of  compensating  gain  either  in  health  of  body 
or  mind. 


200  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

Several  instances  in  the  families  of  persons  whom  I  know  or  know 
of,  have  strikingly  illustrated  the  dangers  of  tossing.  One  baby's 
skull  fractured,  another  thrown  headfirst  against  the  point  of  a  gas 
chandelier,  two  children  made  cripples,  three  humpbacks,  and  two 
killed  by  tossing,  is  a  serious  list  for  a  private  experience.  While  the 
number  of  injuries  is  small  to  the  total  number  of  children  amongst 
whom  they  occurred,  it  is  still  sufficient  to  lead  us  to  avoid  the 
practice,  since  the  child  can  by  no  possibility  derive  an  advantage 
from  it. 

A  mother  should  avoid  holding  a  child  except  when  it  is  in  the  act 
of  suckling.  Sometimes  a  baby  will  cry  continuously  for  no  under- 
standable reason,  and  the  mother  or  nurse  dandles  or  holds  the  child 
to  quiet  it.  Such  otherwise  inexplicable  uneasiness  is  occasionally 
caused  by  thirst  and  usually  occurs  after  feeding.  A  little  water  that 
has  been  boiled  and  purified  will  correct  such  thirst  and  is  not 
infrequently  an  aid  to  a  baby's  digestion  and  a  great  consequent 
benefit. 

A  most  important  thing  with  children  is  to  keep  them  out-doors 
as  much  as  possible.  A  plant  taken  into  a  house  soon  becomes  sickly  ; 
it  loses  its  bright  green  and  tends  ever  more  and  more  to  an  anaemic 
white.  It  requires  twice  as  much  care  and  can  never  remain  healthy. 
Thus  it  is  with  the  child  ;  in-doors  it  will  become  pale,  nervous,  and 
anaemic,  it  will  require  more  care  and  never  be  healthy.  To  the 
extent  that  a  plant  is  deprived  of  air,  to  the  same  extent  will  it  be 
injured.  The  same  result  is  seen  in  cooped-up  children.  Probably 
they  can  stand  such  treatment  less  well,  for  to  them  oxygen  is 
necessary  and  carbonic  acid  gas  noxious,  which  is  not  the  case  with 
plants. 

Health  is  the  main  thing  to  work  for  in  the  treatment  of  young 
children.  Cleanliness,  plain  food  in  reasonable  variety,  plenty  of 
exercise,  and  an  out-door  life  are  the  essentials  to  health  in 
children. 

Taking  up  these  points  in  the  order  named,  we  have,  first, 

CI.EANI.INESS. 

Young  children  should  be  cleaned  thoroughly  once  a  day  and 
babies  twice  a  day.  The  climate  of  the  residence  and  the  con- 
stitution of  the  child  will  vary  the  methods  appropriate  for  accom- 
plishing this  result.  For  instance,  dry  rubbing  with  a  bath  once  or 
twice  a  week  may  be  best  for  a  thin-skinned,  nervous  child,  while  for 
a  stouter  one,  with  perhaps  some  skin  trouble,  an  alkaline  bath  twice 
or  even  three  times  a  day  may  b*e  beneficial.     In  eczema  bathing  is 


The  Child,  201 

generally  injurious.  No  rule  can  be  laid  down  then  as  to  how  the 
cleanliness  is  to  be  maintained. 

A  child  requires  less  cleaning  as  it  wears  less  clothes  and  more 
cleaning  as  it  wears  more  clothes.  The  emanations  from  our  own 
bodies  are  as  a  rule  more  hurtful,  if  not  gotten  rid  of,  than  accumu- 
lations of  outside  dirt.  The  privates  of  children  should  be  washed 
once  a  day  and  children  as  they  grow  older  should  be  taught  to  wash 
themselves  in  these  parts  always  once  a  day.  Great  stress  should 
be  laid  on  this  point,  for  it  is  of  much  importance  that  this  should  be 
done  in  after  life. 

The  boy  at  about  the  age  of  ten  should  be  taught  to  pull  back 
the  prepuce  or  foreskin  in  washing.  Sometimes  there  is  a  premature 
secretion  of  smegma,  or  at  others  an  accumulation  of  urine,  under  the 
prepuce.  Under  these  circumstances  washing  is  always  necessary. 
The  boy  should  be  warned  against  handling  or  exposing  the  privates 
at  any  other  time  except  when  absolutely  essential  for  the  calls  of 
nature.      See  Acton  on  The  Reproductive  Organs. 

A  climate  that  is  warm  and  moist  requires  more  washing  to  main- 
tain cleanliness  than  one  that  is  dry  and  cold.  The  skin  in  a  cold 
climate,  especially  when  also  moist,  acts  less  and  throws  off  less 
waste  than  in  a  warm  one.  As  a  climate  is  cold  and  dry,  so  is  its 
capacity  increased  to  encourage  endosmose  and  exosmose  of  gases 
to  keep  up  the  balance  of  healthy  air  between  closed  rooms  and  the 
outside. 

Thus  the  carbonic  acid  gas,  etc. ,  coming  from  the  body  of  a  man 
at  a  temperature  of  98°  in  a  closed  room,  with  the  outer  air  at  0°, 
will  by  these  means  be  passed  through  wooden  or  stone  walls  with- 
out a  visible  aperture,  and  oxygen,  etc.,  takes  its  place. 

If  the  temperature  be  20°  or  30°  lower  outside  the  room  than  it 
is  in  it,  and  the  air  be  dry,  the  replacement  of  bad  gases  or  those 
deleterious  to  health  by  good  ones,  will  be  very  rapid.  The  air  in  a 
closed  room,  under  favorable  conditions  of  temperature  and  dryness, 
often  maintains  its  purity  better  than  the  air  of  the  same  room  with  a 
window  open  does,  under  unfavorable  hygrometric  and  thermometric 
conditions.  The  tables  showing  the  permeability  of  stone,  wood, 
etc.,  to  the  gases  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  rapidity  with  which, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  atmospheric  balances  can  be  estab- 
lished and  maintained  through  solid  walls  of  these  materials  is 
astonishing.  On  the  other  hand,  the  difficulty  of  proper  air  cleans- 
ing, when  conditions  are  unfavorable,  is  clear. 

It  is  consoling  to  know  that  when  the  necessity  for  the  trans- 
mission of  gases  is  greatest,  it  is  easiest. 

As  it  is  with  rooms,  so  it  is  with  individuals.     When  the  most 


202  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

attention  is  required  to  maintain  cleanliness,  that  is,  in  moist,  warm 
weather,  then  is  bathing  easiest,  while  in  very  cold  weather,  bathing 
need  not  be  frequent,  and  if  carried  too  far  may  even  injure  the  con- 
stitution. 

In  arctic  regions  winter  bathing  is  practically  impossible. 

Baths  of  children  should  rarely  be  in  cold  water  :  lukewarm  water 
is  best.  Bathing  may  vary  from  a  sponge  off  to  an  immersion.  It 
is  essential  to  use  judgment  against  overdoing  the  use  of  water. 

The  nails  should  be  kept  clean.  The  dirt  in  them,  especially  in 
the  nails  of  nurses  and  physicians,  is  a  frequent  vehicle  for  infection. 
This  fact,  pointed  out  to  children,  will  doubtless  add  to  their  interest 
in  this  point. 

The  teeth  should  be  carefully  cleansed  night  and  morning.  A 
great  deal  of  suffering  from  the  teeth  in  after  years  will  thus  be 
avoided.  But  besides  this,  food  and  the  secretions  in  the  mouth,  if 
allowed  to  accumulate  in  and  about  the  teeth  will  decay,  and  with 
the  decay  of  the  teeth  this  induces,  will  produce  ptomaines,  inimical 
to  digestion,  and  consequentlj^  lowering  to  the  vitality. 

I  have  recently  seen  some  reports  of  recurring  diphtheria,  that 
is,  where  one  or  more  attacks  of  diphtheria  occurred  in  the  same  in- 
dividual every  year.  These  reports  show  that  the  diphtheritic 
attacks  were  prevented  by  a  careful  cleansing  with  antiseptic  fluids 
of  the  mouth,  throat,  and  nose.  The  checking  of  these  results  seems 
to  have  been  carefully  done.  The  residence  was  the  same,  and  in 
several  cases  members  of  the  family  thus  troubled,  not  taking  the 
precautions  mentioned,  were  attacked,  while  the  more  susceptible 
member  or  members  taking  the  treatment  were  not. 

These  results  indicate  that  the  abnormal  secretions  or  contents  of 
the  nose,  mouth,  and  throat  are  a  breeding-place  for  any  germs  that 
may  be  introduced  into  them,  and  that  the  resisting  power  of  our 
healthy  blood  and  tissue  against  injurious  germ  life  has  little  or  no 
influence  in  dead  tissue  or  decaying  matter.  A  child  having  catar- 
rhal conditions,  or  defective  teeth,  or  furred  tongue  should  be  encour- 
aged to  the  greatest  care  in  keeping  the  parts  affected  clean.  Bed- 
ding should  be  carefully  aired  every  day,  and  whenever  practicable, 
that  is  when  the  sun  shines,  should  be  sunned  in  the  open  air  an 
hour  or  two  a  day.  The  sun  is  a  great  disinfector.  Its  direct  action 
is  not  only  usually  fatal  to  minute  disease  life,  but  is  often  so  to  the 
germs  also. 

Plain  healthy  food,  with  fair  variety  and  occasional  change, 
is  of  great  importance  to  the  child.  A  proper  diet  varies  with 
the  constitution,  activity,  and  residence  of  the  child.  Constitutions 
differ  in  all  respects  and  often  in  curious  and  exceptional  ways. 


The  Child.  203 

Thus  strawberries  are  generally  a  wholesome  fruit,  but  with  some 
they  cause  a  rash  to  break  out,  accompanied  by  a  great  deal  of  irrita- 
tion. Milk  is  usually  a  wholesome  and  advantageous  diet  at  all 
ages,  but  quite  frequently  children  shortly  after  weaning  cannot 
digest  it  well.  With  some  it  will  turn  acid  and  cause  diarrhoea, 
while  with  others  nausea  causes  the  milk  to  be  thrown  from  the 
stomach ;  in  other  cases,  it  causes  constipation.  One  of  my  own 
children,  now  two  years  old,  is  unable  to  eat  eggs  or  anything  pre- 
pared with  them  ;  even  a  piece  of  cake  with  ^%^  in  it  will  cause  an 
immediate  attack  of  nausea  and  general  malaise. 

Tomatoes,  generally  friendly  to  the  digestion,  are  not  suited  to 
some,  and  occasionally  even  salivate  persons  eating  them.  Apples 
eaten  to  any  extent  by  some  persons  will  bring  on  an  increased  flow 
of  urine.  It  is,  however,  with  stimulants,  narcotics,  and  medicines 
that  we  notice  oftenest  the  idiosyncrasies  of  constitution  in  man. 

Some  persons,  instead  of  being  narcotized  by  the  usual  doses  of 
such  drugs  as  chloroform,  opium,  etc.,  are  greatly  excited.  Some 
can  tolerate  strong  doses  of  mercury,  arsenic,  or  other  powerful 
medicines,  while  others  on  taking  even  small  doses  suffer  such 
general  injury  as  to  counteract  any  good  effects  on  a  specific  trouble 
these  drugs  may  produce.  Some  are  poisoned  by  a  whiff  of  air  from 
a  poison  oak  plant,  while  others  can  roll  in  it  without  effect  of  visible 
harm.  There  are  certain  general  rules  as  to  diet  that  should  be  fol- 
lowed with  children,  but  at  the  same  time  peculiarities  of  consti- 
tution should  be  watched  for,  and  food  that  is  unsuitable  to  a  child 
in  experience  should  not  be  given,  though  the  general  rule  favor  it. 

What  should  compose  a  proper  diet  varies  with  the  age  of  the 
child,  its  activities  and  manner  of  life,  and  on  the  climate  in  which  it 
lives.  These  are  matters  for  investigation  and  study  which  open  an 
ample  field  for  the  scientific  investigation  of  the  parents,  and 
especially  of  the  mother.  Too  much  importance  cannot  be  attached 
to  the  diet  of  children.  A  mistake  will  cause  suffering  to  the  child 
and  consequently  to  the  parents,  and  may  result  in  death.  Food 
absolutely  requisite  in  a  cold  climate  may  bring  on  indigestion, 
diarrhoea,  and  fever  in  a  warm  one. 

The  extraordinary  mortality  of  infants  during  the  excessive  hot 
periods  of  summer  in  such  cities  as  New  York  is  now  accounted  for 
by  the  effects  of  the  heat  on  the  milk  and  food  used  for  the  babies  as 
well  as  on  the  babies  themselves.  Here  then  is  another  matter  for 
consideration.  Milk  exposed  in  warm  weather  is  a  food  especially 
liable  to  spoil.  It  turns  acid  and  the  babies'  powers  of  assimilation 
being  already  weakened  by  the  heat,  indigestion  sets  in  to  be  fol- 
lowed often  by  cholera  infantum  and  death.     Various  single  methods 


204  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

may  be  used  to  diminish  this  danger,  such  as  care  in  seeing  that  the 
milk  is  fresh  and  sweet  when  received  and  when  given,  boiling  the 
milk,  putting  lime-water  in  when  received,  etc.  The  first  should 
always  be  done.  The  cow  or  cows  from  which  the  milk  is  received 
should  be  examined  occasionally.  Cows  are  frequently  subject  to 
diseases  common  to  man,  especially  to  tuberculosis.  As  milk  is  a 
good  vehicle  for  disease  germs  caution  should  be  used  on  this  point. 
For  the  same  reason  some  track  should  be  kept  of  the  health  of  the 
family  furnishing  the  milk.  The  best  road  out  of  this  difiiculty  is 
to  keep  your  own  cows,  but  the  means  of  the  famil}^  may  not  justify 
this. 

After  we  have  taken  all  the  pains  and  pleasures  of  creating  a 
human  being  in  our  own  likeness  we  cannot  be  too  careful  of  its  life. 
At  the  same  time  we  must  remember  that  the  child's  future  success 
depends  on  its  character.  This  can  only  be  well  and  forcibly  devel- 
oped by  throwing  the  child  as  much  as  possible  on  its  owm  resources 
and  building  up  its  own  self-reliance  and  self-respect.  Coddling  and 
care  by  others  are  inimical  to  these  results.  It  will  not  be  easy  to 
draw  the  line  between  proper  care  of  the  child  and  care  that  will 
injure  its  future  life.  It  is  a  matter  that  should  be  looked  into,  and 
the  care  appropriate  for  children  will  doubtless  vary  with  different 
individuals  and  places. 

Children  may  often  derive  advantage  from  a  temporary  change  of 
climate  and  scene.  But  travelling  with  children  in  general  is  to  be 
avoided.  The  risks  of  exposure,  changes  in  diet,  dangers  of  infec- 
tion, etc.,  are  very  great. 

Numbers  of  cases  of  the  loss  of  children  from  diphtheria  and 
zymotic  diseases  through  exposure  while  being  dragged  about  by 
parents  in  their  pleasure  or  sight-seeing  tours  have  come  to  my  notice. 

A  child  may  grow  up  cautious  or  careless  according  to  influences 
around  them  and  these  are  largely  the  result  of  the  activities  of  asso- 
ciates. It  may  not  be  amiss  to  point  out  to  young  people  as  an 
inducement  to  good  manners  in  the  home  that  they  are  never  so  well 
thought  of  if  they  treat  their  family  or  friends  with  disrespect.  It  is  a 
disrespect  to  themselves.  The  reading  of  young  people  is  an  import- 
ant matter.  Kvery  effort  should  be  made  to  keep  it  on  a  high  plane. 
While  doing  this  it  is  essential  to  consider  the  development  of 
the  child's  mind  and  to  suit  the  matter  to  the  machinery  for  its 
working  up. 

Exercise  is  an  absolute  essential  to  the  welfare  of  children.  This 
exercise  should  be  in  the  open  air  as  much  as  possible.  While 
the  dictum  admits  of  no  amendment  it  is  important  to  have  a  clear 
idea  of  the  object  of  exercise,  so  that  the  abuse  of  it  or  its  usurpation 


The   Child.  205 

of  the  energies  of  life  may  not  take  place.  Exercise  of  the  body  is  a 
means  and  not  an  end.  The  body  without  exercise,  especially  in 
the  young,  does  not  remain  healthy.  Without  a  healthy  body  the 
full  possibilities  of  the  mind  cannot  be  realized  ;  consequently  to  use 
the  mind,  as  humanity  is  now  constituted,  a  good  body  is  necessary. 
The  true  object  of  exercise  is  then  to  develop  or  maintain  a  body 
that  will  carry  the  mind  and  enable  it  to  exhibit  its  work  and  im- 
prove its  quality,  and  to  reproduce  this  mind  with  its  accompanying 
body. 

Physical  education  to  insure  physical  perfection  is  good,  but  it  is 
not  realized  when  the  physique  detracts  from  the  mental  or  reproduc- 
tive powers.  These  may  all  be  considered  physical  powers,  as  they 
are,  but  they  are  here  separated  for  convenience.  From  these  reasons 
any  physical  education  for  superiority  in  acrobatic  exercises,  etc.,  is 
exceedingly  liable  to  abuse.  We  do  not  want  prize  fighters  or  circus 
actors.  The  improvement  of  the  race  and  of  life  is  not  on  that  line. 
It  is  in  the  mental  line,  and  the  mind  will  triumph  over  brute  force. 
The  mind  only  requires  a  vigor  and  vitality  in  the  body  to  allow  it 
to  do  its  work.  The  best  means  for  a  proper  physical  education  is 
the  child's  self-learning  acquired  in  sports  and  games.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  body  is  in  such  sports  more  even,  the  exercise  is  out- 
doors, and  excessive  exertion,  while  quite  possible,  is  not  so  likely 
to  occur  as  in  gymnastics  or  feats  of  strength.  Interest,  discipline, 
combination,  etc. ,  are  also  cultivated  in  games. 

Hard  work  of  body  or  mind  should  not  be  permitted  in  children. 
Excesses  of  this  kind,  like  all  excesses,  are  especially  injurious  to 
the  child. 

The  vigor  necessary  for  development  is  abstracted  by  premature 
overwork,  and  the  child  thus  abused  is  either  arrested  at  a  stage  of 
evolution  lower  than  it  would  otherwise  have  reached,  or  fatally 
injured  in  its  future  reproductive  powers  ;  perhaps  not  prevented 
altogether  from  reproduction,  but  so  devitalized  as  to  be  unable  to 
transmit  superiority  of  body  or  mind. 

A  colt  worked  hard  when  young  is  ruined,  or  at  least  does  not 
become  so  good  a  horse  in  all  respects  as  would  otherwise  have  been 
the  case.  An  animal  so  treated  does  not  develop  so  well,  does  not 
live  so  long,  and  a  precocity — say  of  speed — is  developed  at  the 
expense  of  the  future  matured  horse.  Human  beings  we  have  less 
positive  data  about.  But  it  is  a  subject  of  general  remark  that  the 
youthful  prodigies  and  acrobats  of  the  circus  are  of  short  life,  and 
very  rarely  are  athletes  of  any  mark  in  manhood.  So  also  the  prodi- 
gies of  precocity  in  the  school  are  not  usually  those  who  take  the 
prizes  of  life  at  maturity.     Some  exceptions,  such  as  the  celebrated 


2o6  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

Pascal,  must  occur  to  the  thoughful ;  but  even  this  remarkable  chi 
and  remarkable  man  is  not  so  much  an  exception  after  all.  His 
powers  commenced  to  wane  before  thirty,  and  before  his  death  he 
was  at  least  partly  insane.  He  died  prematurely  old  at  thirty-nine, 
and  left  no  progeny. 

John  Stuart  Mill  is  more  nearly  a  complete  exception  to  my  views. 
This  eminent  thinker  was  both  a  precocious  child  and  a  celebrated 
man.  He  was  bom  in  a  city,  in  I^ondon,  and  lived  to  a  good  old 
age.  He,  however,  failed  to  perpetuate  his  mental  abilities  in  chil- 
dren. His  father  was  a  strong  and  celebrated  man,  and  he  came 
from  the  country  in  Scotland.  According  to  my  theories,  had  the 
son  remained  in  the  country,  been  discouraged  in  precocity,  and 
reserved  a  sufficient  energy  to  perpetuate  his  superiorities,  the  Mill 
family  might  to-day  be  achieving  greater  things  than  any  they  have 
done,  and  possess  no  end  of  future  possibilities. 

Many  of  the  eminent  men  of  the  past  showed  a  development  of 
talent  or  genius  at  an  age  which  we  must  indeed  admit  as  precocious. 
Alexander  the  Great,  for  instance,  commenced  his  experience  in 
government  at  i6,  and  his  career  of  conquest  at  20.  He  died  at  32, 
leaving  a  child  bom  after  his  death.  This  infant  was  murdered 
when  12  years  of  age,  William  Pitt,  the  second  son  of  the  great 
Pitt,  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  at  24,  and  Prime  Minister  at 
25.     He  died  at  47  without  children. 

The  rarity  with  which  those  showing  great  precocity  of  talent 
have  left  children,  or  children  who  became  eminent,  is  to  be  noted. 
Precocity  is  consequently  not  to  be  encouraged,  and  never  to  be 
artificially  produced. 

The  pressure  of  reading  and  study  upon  the  eyes  is  now  so  great 
that  many  children  suffer  through  life  from  the  consequences  of 
imprudence  in  the  use  of  these  windows  of  the  soul.  The  rule  should 
be  never  to  allow  reading  or  study  at  dawn,  twilight,  or  by  a  bad 
light.  No  study  should  be  allowed  by  lamplight,  gas,  etc.,  until 
twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  then  only  in  moderation.  Studies 
necessitating  before  twelve  night  work  may  from  that  fact  be 
deemed  excessive  and  should  be  reduced. 

Reasonable  body  and  mind  exercise  is  usually  what  a  child  takes 
of  its  own  volition  when  under  the  proper  influences.  In  mental 
exercise  it  is  well  to  keep  the  fact  before  us  that  the  child  first  under- 
stands or  grasps  the  homogeneous,  and  only  afterward  the  hetero- 
geneous ;  consequently,  generalizations  should  follow  the  acquirement 
of  the  facts  upon  which  they  are  based.  Plain  as  is  the  propriety  of 
following  this  order,  frequent  violations  of  it  are  observable  in 
ordinary  education. 


The  Child.  207 

In  considering  the  treatment  of  the  child  the  general  course  of 
its  evolution  should  govern.  In  the  foetus  all  the  vitality  goes  to 
growth.  In  the  baby  nearly  all  the  vitality  has  the  same  destiny. 
In  the  child  this  still  remains  true,  and  it  is  not  until  natinre  has 
completed  the  reproductive  powers  of  the  individual  that  she  diverts 
vitality  for  a  great  superiority  in  any  other  line.  Vitality  thus 
diverted  prematurely  is  taken  at  a  heavy  cost. 

Children  of  the  two  sexes  should  be  brought  up  together.  The 
two  sexes  must  meet  and  live  together  in  after  life,  and  I  believe  that 
they  should  never  be  separated  as  is  so  often  done  in  schools.  The 
separation  of  the  sexes  is  invariably  followed  by  awkwardness  and 
uncomfortableness  when  a  child  so  separated  is  brought  in  contact 
with  the  opposite  sex.  The  reproductive  instincts,  swelling  in  the 
bud  long  before  they  bloom,  drive  girls  and  boys  separated  from  each 
other,  with  the  whips  of  a  natural  curiosity  as  to  each  other,  to  think 
and  do  many  improper  things. 

The  natural  curiosity  when  they  are  separated  turns  to  a  morbid 
form,  both  sexes  become  foolish  about  each  other,  and  the  results  too 
often  are  self-abuse,  escapades,  and  elopements.  The  girls  are  often 
misled  and  are  ruined  beyond  repair,  and  the  boys  often  slink  into 
houses  of  prostitution  to  gratify  a  natural  and  healthy  curiosity  that, 
with  more  familiarity  and  daily  contact  with  good  girls,  would  never 
have  taken  so  dangerous  a  form.  Girls  and  boys  brought  up  together 
in  the  common  schools,  as  far  as  I  have  observed,  seem  to  look  at 
each  other  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  play  and  romp  together  with 
little  if  any  unclean  language,  thought,  or  deed.  On  the  other  hand, 
boys  separated  from  girls'  society  and  girls  in  carefully  kept  boarding 
schools  become  possessed  with  a  romantic  folly  about  the  opposite 
sex,  and  while  so  possessed  are  easily  led  away  to  error. 

It  is  important  to  impress  children  with  the  danger  of  intimacies 
with  strangers,  kissing  and  caressing  unknown  persons  or  children, 
using  clothes,  sheets,  towels,  handkerchiefs,  etc.,  used  by  other 
people.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  many  kinds  of  disease  are  trans- 
mitted by  germs  or  by  already  developed  minute  organisms.  These 
may  be  carried  in  the  clothing  or  in  articles  used,  and  thus  infect 
persons  subsequently  using  them  ;  or  the  transfer  of  the  disease 
may  take  place  by  actual  touch.  In  this  class  of  diseases  are  small- 
pox, scarlet-fever,  diphtheria,  measles,  chicken-pox,  whooping-cough, 
cholera,  gonorrhoea,  and  various  skin  troubles,  and,  most  of  all,  con- 
sumption and  syphilis.  Consumption,  fortunately,  is  not  so  easily 
transferred  as  the  others.  Syphilis  is  a  deadly  and  terrible  malady. 
One  can  never  know  when  its  march  is  done.  Even  death  to  the 
individual  will  not  stop  it,  for  it  will  march  on  in  the  children, 


2o8  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

directy  or  indirectly,  if  happily  the  children  be  born  alive,  for  a  large 
proportion  of  conceptions  by  or  in  syphilitics  are  not  bom  alive. 

In  these  matters  a  consistent  caution  should  be  followed.  The 
care  taken  should  be  systematic,  reasonable,  not  excessive,  yet 
great. 

A  schoolmate  of  mine  lost  his  eye  from  a  gonorrhoeal  attack 
caused  by  a  soiled  towel  with  which  he  wiped  his  face.  Thus  vene- 
real disease  may  endanger  the  eyes  though  no  venereal  license  be 
practised.  I  personally  know  of  one  case  where  syphilis  was  given 
by  a  kiss.  There  are  undoubtedly  transmissions  of  syphilis  without 
sexual  intercourse,  and  the  kiss  is  of  these  secondary  means  the  most 
frequent  spreader  of  this  fell  malady.  The  importance  in  care  as  to 
syphilis  may  be  understood  by  the  number  of  its  victims  in  the  com- 
munity. 

One  writer  estimates  25  per  cent,  of  the  population  to  be  more  or 
less  tainted  with  it.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  is  a  physician  in  large 
practice,  estimates  the  proportion  injured  by  it  in  one  way  or  another 
to  be  from  35  per  cent,  to  40  per  cent.  Both  estimates  seem  to  me 
excessive,  and  may  arise  from  the  proportion  of  this  disease  or  its 
sequelae  to  all  others  treated.  An  estimate  founded  on  correct  data 
as  indicated,  need  bear  no  true  relation  to  the  condition  of  the  whole 
population. 

The  value  of  care  and  education  on  this  subject  is  shown  by  the 
frequency  of  venereal  diseases  in  the  armies  of  Europe  as  compared 
to  the  care  taken  to  guard  against  them. 
The  treatment  of  venereal  diseases  is  annually  : 
I  in  19  in  the  Prussian  army. 
I   ''  10  *'    ''    French 
I  "    3  "    ''    English       " 

The  care  and  education  on  this  subject  are  greatest  in  the  Prussian 
army  and  almost  nil  in  the  English. 

Unclean  water-closets  are  also  a  source  of  infection,  especially  in 
venereal  diseases.  In  cases  of  epidemics  of  typhoid,  typhus,  or 
cholera  public  water-closets  should  be  avoided.  Care  in  looking  into 
the  health  of  playmates  and  nurses  should  be  taught  children,  and 
the  parents  must  not  sleep  in  the  matter. 

One  thing  in  the  treatment  of  children  and  young  persons  is  of 
great  importance  to  their  health,  and  especially  to  their  moral  well- 
being  ;  it  is  to  give  each  one  a  separate  bed  to  sleep  in  and,  if 
possible,  a  separate  room  or  compartment. 

(See  Acton  on  The  Reproductive  Organs,  p.  54,  sixth  edition.) 

The  sleeping  apartments  and  arrangements  bear  a  direct  relation 
to  the  development  of  modesty. 


The  Child,  209 

One  thing  is  always  to  be  remembered  in  the  treatment  of 
children.  You  must  gain  their  confidence.  While  holding  up  to 
them  a  high  standard  for  all  attainments  you  should  make  it  clear  to 
children  that  you  understand  their  humanity  and  their  liability  at 
times  to  fall  below  the  standard  set.  Our  standard  should  always 
be  progressive — that  is,  higher  than  our  own  lives  have  attained. 
Such  a  standard  can  only  be  come  at  with  struggle  and  effort. 

These  inevitable  struggles  toward  perfection  can  not,  in  the  nature 
of  humanity,  be  each  time  completely  successful,  otherwise  humanity 
would  be  very  different  from  what  it  is.  With  a  high  standard  it  is 
consequently  more  than  ever  necessary  to  commend  it  with  a  sym- 
pathy to  the  child  and  I  believe  also  with  a  confession  of  the 
difficulties  you  yourself  have  experienced  only  to  overcome  with 
effort.  If  this  be  not  done,  then  any  proper  standard  for  our  event- 
ual efforts  being  too  high  for  immediate  realization  by  the  human 
child,  the  child  will  feel  a  shame  and  disgrace  at  its  inevitable  lapses 
and  will  keep  them  secret.  What  the  child  needs  in  such  failures  is 
the  sympathy  and  help  of  its  mentor. 

Our  efforts  should  ever  be  towards  a  condition  superior  to  any- 
thing hitherto  attained,  but  the  road  to  it  is  the  human  one  over  at 
best  a  cobble-stone  of  imperfection. 

This  must  be  recognized  and  admitted,  otherwise  we  do  but 
prepare  ourselves  for  an  inevitable  reaction  such  as  has  thus  far  in- 
variably accompanied  the  high  aims  of  man.  These  remarks  apply 
especially  to  morality.  The  attitude  of  the  parent  to  the  child  should 
be  in  the  following  line. 

I  teach  you,  my  child,  what  is  good  and  what  is  error.  I  have 
not  been  perfect  and  I  know  much  of  what  I  teach  by  bitter 
experience  and  the  observation  of  the  still  more  bitter  experience  of 
others.  I  hope  to  help  you  to  avoid  my  own  mistakes.  In  this 
undertaking  it  is  your  welfare  I  consider,  and  my  effort  is  to  make 
you,  my  new  self,  better  than  I,  your  old  self.  You  cannot  be  per- 
fect. It  is  toward  perfection  that  you  should  work.  Fear  not  then 
when  you  fail  to  come  to  me  for  counsel.  Be  not  ashamed  when  you 
do  wrong  to  come  to  me  for  help.  You,  my  child,  are  my  own  life 
renewed.  You  are  the  best  part  of  me.  Then  believe  always  that 
you  are  my  hope.  Your  secrets  I  will  never  betray.  Your  interests, 
your  growth,  your  achievements  are  mine.  Let  now  your  inexperi- 
ence profit  as  far  as  possible  from  my  age.  My  heart  beats  in  your 
heart  and  my  hopes  grow  new  with  yours.  Consider  me  what  I  am, 
a  reserve  force  to  cover  your  retreats  where  these  may  unfortunately 
be  necessary,  and  to  push  home  your  victories  when  these  you 
achieve. 
14 


2IO  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

Exaggerate  nothing.  Exaggeration  is  sure  to  bring  reaction. 
Nowhere  will  it  be  more  felt  than  in  the  yoimg  trusting  child.  The 
idea  should  not  be  given  that  the  parent  knows  everything,  for  this 
brings  the  child  to  the  parent  instead  of  to  nature.  The  inquiring 
child  should  always,  when  possible,  be  taken  direct  to  nature.  You 
will  yourself  always  find  something  to  learn,  and  you  should  admit 
it  to  the  child  to  encourage  its  inquiries. 

In  the  treatment  of  the  child,  as  has  been  said,  it  should  be 
clearly  formulated  as  well  as  indefinitely  felt  that  the  new-bom  babe 
must  receive  services  and  attention  in  no  way  connected  with  its  own 
services — for  of  these  it  is  incapable. 

Conversely,  the  interest  of  society  and  ultimately  of  the  individual 
also  demands  that  the  rewards  to  the  grown  person  should  correspond 
with  their  merits  and  with  their  services  rendered.  In  the  first 
stages  of  life  the  conduct  of  the  parent  toward  the  child  must  be 
according  to  afiection  and  generosity ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
conduct  of  society  toward  the  mature  individual  must  be  according 
to  justice  and  to  render  to  him  by  the  measure  he  renders  to  it. 

The  parents,  while  recognizing  the  first  necessity,  should  so 
govern  themselves  and  their  children  that  these,  when  going  out 
into  the  world,  will  be  prepared  to  meet  the  contest  of  life  upon  the 
lines  of  justice. 

Society  cannot  live  much  less  progress  in  treating  the  individual 
in  a  general  way  upon  the  lines  of  generosity  which  are  an  absolute 
essential  to  the  treatment  of  the  babe  by  the  parent.  Therefore  a 
grown  person  leaving  the  family  for  the  fight  of  life  with  the  expec- 
tation of  being  treated  in  the  generous  policy  appropriate  to  the 
child  is  handicapped.  If  he  or  she  succeeds,  it  must  be  by  learning 
and  avoiding  the  error.  It  is  to  be  supposed  that  the  failure  of  many 
persons  is  due  to  the  impression  of  youth,  unmodified  in  the  family 
experience,  that  subsistence,  kindness,  and  reward  in  the  world  are 
matters  of  generosity  and  not  of  justice. 

When  children  come  to  the  age  of  puberty  and  commence  the 
change  that  is  to  make  them  men  and  women,  they  have  arrived  at  a 
crisis  in  their  lives.  At  this  age  the  body  grows  rapidly  both  in  size 
and  weight,  and  the  vital  forces  in  great  activity  go  to  the  perfecting 
of  the  reproductive  organs.  It  is  not  expedient  to  press  mental 
efforts  during  this  period.  On  the  contrary,  3'oung  people  should 
be  kept  out-of-doors  in  light  occupation  or  sports  to  a  greater  extent 
than  usual  while  they  are  passing  fi-om  the  age  of  children  through 
the  development  of  the  reproductive  power  to  the  age  of  manhood 
and  womanhood.  Examinations  and  extra  pressures  are  often 
allowed  to  push  young  people  iX  this  time.  It  is  always  at  the 
expense  of  their  future  health  and  vitality. 


The  Child,  211 

As  reproducing  an  improved  being  should  be  our  aim,  it  being 
the  grandest  achievement  of  which  we  are  capable,  so  a  course  inter- 
fering with  this  is  a  fundamental  error. 

In  the  treatment  of  children  nothing  is  more  important  than  to  care- 
fully look  after  their  welfare  at  the  age  of  puberty.  Girls  having  a 
sure  sign  of  this  in  the  appearance  of  the  menses  their  age  of  puberty 
can  be  accurately  established.  It  is  true  that  the  descent  of  the  ^%%  in 
some  women  is  accompanied  by  no  sign,  this  fact  being  known  by 
the  pregnancy  of  women  without  a  menstrual  flow,  but  such  cases 
are  like  five-fingered  men,  albinos,  etc.,  too  rare  to  require  attention. 

The  boy's  age  of  puberty  is,  however,  not  so  easily  known,  and 
must  be  watched  for  more  carefully.  Usually  the  hair  commences  to 
grow  on  the  lip  and  chin,  the  voice  to  change,  and  a  self-conscious- 
ness appears  that  requires  judicious  treatment.  If  the  course 
of  the  chapter  on  education  has  been  followed,  and  the  boy  and 
girl  understand  something  of  the  functions  that  are  taking  such 
a  hold  on  them,  and  comprehend  the  dangers  of  abuse  of  these,  and, 
above  all,  realize  their  grandetu:  and  importance,  less  trouble  will 
be  experienced  in  inducing  the  young  to  a  wise  life  at  this  time. 

After  the  age  of  puberty  childhood  is  over.  The  reproductive 
instinct  then  dominates  life.  It  is  for  us  to  say  whether  this  domi- 
nation shall  be  for  evil  in  lust,  dissipation,  prostitution,  and  self- 
abuse,  or  for  good  in  marriage  and  children  with  the  healthy  and 
renewed  life  these  bring. 

With  the  robust  this  is  the  choice,  but  it  must  be  said  that  in  our 
in-door  and  sedentary  civilization  there  are  numbers  who  without 
strong  health  are  also  without  an  aggressive  reproductive  instinct. 
These  are  our  weaklings.  Extermination  threatens  their  ill-balanced 
constitutions  and  they  on  their  part  court  extermination  by  repressing 
or  perverting  these  our  grandest  powers.  The  repression  or  perver- 
sion only  hastens  the  end.  Such  people  rarely  enjoy  good  health  ; 
insanity  and  death  ever  dog  their  heels. 

For  the  wise  man  there  is  but  one  choice — the  wife,  the  child,  the 
happy  home.  Renewed  and  immortal  there,  such  a  man  may  smile 
at  old  age  and  threatening  death.  The  time  that  furrows  and 
whitens  him  is  but  developing  and  bringing  on  his  new  self  in  his 
children. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
HINTS  TO  THE  HUSBAND. 

MARRIAGE  is  the  official  sanction  of  the  union  of  two  lives  in 
one  by  means  of  the  child.  By  marriage  alone  is  the  man 
or  woman  complete. 

The  proper  treatment  of  a  wife  in  the  almost  entire  absence  of 
any  education  as  to  the  duties,  greatness,  importance,  and  joys  of 
matrimony  is  a  conduct  now  come  at  by  intuition  alone.  That 
intuitions  alone  are  not  sufficient  in  a  large  number  of  cases  we 
now  see. 

Religious  forms  and  dogmas  which  have  supplied  the  lack  of  a 
rational  education  in  this,  the  most  important  matter  of  our  lives  and 
of  our  future,  have  lost  much  of  their  hold  on  our  actions.  Thus 
troubles  in  matrimony  are  more  prevalent  than  they  were  formerly 
in  America,  and  are  becoming  still  more  so.  It  is  indeed  true  that 
experience  is  our  only  real  teacher,  but  may  we  not  learn  how  to 
obtain  that  experience  and  have  our  attention  drawn  to  what  will 
occur,  so  that  we  may  see  the  facts  when  they  come  in  their  true 
light. 

Every  one  who  is  married  can  appreciate  the  difficulty  of  making 
clear  the  difference  that  takes  place  in  one's  life  through  matrimony. 
In  this  relation  in  its  perfection  the  individual  is  at  once  halved  and 
doubled— halved  in  that  the  individual  is  but  a  part  of  a  new  life 
made  by  the  union,  and  doubled  in  that  two  lives  thereafter  make  the 
united  pair. 

In  the  new  and  grand  relation  formed  by  the  union  of  marriage 
the  first  thing  of  importance  is  to  become  acquainted  with  one's 
better  half.  Before  marriage  this  is  impossible,  because  you  have 
no  other  half.  The  intimacy  of  marriage  will  introduce  the  husband 
to  the  wife ;  nothing  else  can.  Therefore  the  great  voluntary  step 
of  our  lives,  marriage,  should  at  first  be  so  regulated  as  to  prevent 
any  interference  with  or  drawback  to  the  intimacy  and  communing 
of  the  united  ones,  lest  the  union  should  be  less  complete  or  be  slow 
in  its  growth. 

No  man  or  woman  can  be  complete  until  they  create.     Marriage 


Hints  to  the  Husband,  213 

which  provides  for  creation  in  its  joys  and  mysteries  is  in  a  sense  a 
birth.  It  is  the  birth  from  the  single  man  and  maid  of  the  united 
couple,  husband  and  wife.  As  the  first  influences  on  the  child  are 
the  most  lasting,  and  do  most  toward  moulding  its  character,  so  also 
the  first  influences  on  the  bride,  as  on  the  husband,  are  the  most  im- 
portant in  marriage,  for  it  is  these  that  do  most  to  fix  the  destiny  of 
the  union. 

In  the  newly  married  there  is  an  opening  of  the  heart,  a 
tenderness  and  exchange  of  confidence  that  should  be  given  every 
encouragement.  It  cannot  have  full  sway  under  the  eye  of  friends 
and  relatives,  for  they  will  criticise  and  appear  at  inopportune 
occasions. 

Near  relatives  especially  seem  at  these  times  exacting  and  un- 
reasonable in  regard  to  the  new  member  of  the  family,  and  often 
enough  suggest  doubts  that  become  the  seeds  of  much  unhappiness  ; 
or,  while  the  beings  are  adjusting  themselves  to  the  great  change  of 
marriage,  interfere  with  the  heart  and  reason  of  the  interested  ones 
in  moments  of  the  almost  inevitable  friction  that  occur,  and  with 
very  good  intentions  do  incalculable  harm. 

The  custom  of  a  bridal  trip  after  marriage,  however  it  originated, 
is  clearly  a  good  one.  Understanding  the  why,  you  will  be  able 
to  make  this  trip  one  full  of  good  results.  The  voyage  in  most  cases 
should  be  to  a  quiet  place  or  places  with  no  excessive  fatigues.  In 
all  cases  it  should  be  without  relatives  and  where  relatives  and 
friends  will  not  be  seen.  The  husband  at  this  time  should  not 
forget  the  embarrassments  of  the  new  relation  his  wife  has  under- 
taken, remembering  that  she  in  receiving  the  ring,  the  emblem  of 
eternity,  has  given  him  her  life.  Her  honor  and  happiness  are  in 
the  husband's  hands.  The  separation  from  her  old  associations 
and  the  fulfilment  of  the  wife's  duties  cause  a  great  strain  upon 
the  delicate  sensibilities  of  an  inexperienced  wife  so  recently  a 
maiden.  The  husband  should  be  tender  and  should  not  abuse  his 
privileges. 

It  is  too  delicate  a  matter,  according  to  our  present  popular 
opinion,  to  enter  into  any  useful  detail  as  to  the  more  intimate  rela- 
tions of  marriage.  In  fact  the  rules  and  laws  of  Solon,  Moses,  The 
Mishna,  Mahomet  etc. ,  as  to  these  matters  have  not  done  much  good. 
Recent  researches  on  this  point,  such  as  those  of  Acton,  are  equally 
unsatisfactory  as  a  positive  guide.  They  are  all,  however,  useful  and 
suggestive. 

To  lay  down  rules  for  the  marriage  embrace  of  a  camel-driver,  as 
distinguished  from  a  sailor,  to  exact  heavy  duties  from  the  vigorous 
idle  man  and  relieve  altogether  the  sage  and  scholar,  as  all  these 


214  ^^  Conquest  of  Death, 

authorities  more  or  less  do,  would  be  to  perpetuate  the  idle  and 
worthless,  and  to  exterminate  the  wise. 

It  is  sufiScient  to  say  that  excess  in  marital  privileges  is  bad,  and 
that  the  true  and  grand  exercise  of  the  reproductive  function  is  for 
reproduction.  Anything  beyond  this,  any  use  without  hope  of 
fertility,  is  to  be  scanned  with  suspicion.  The  presumption  is  against 
it.  It  may  be  said  here  that  the  marital  privilege  of  the  husband 
should  not  be  exercised  for  six  weeks  after  the  birth  of  the  child  nor 
during  the  menstrual  flow. 

There  is  no  need  to  make  a  bridal  trip  costly.  Servants  should 
never  be  taken  on  a  wedding  journey ;  they  are  as  dangerous  as 
relatives — nay,  probably  more  so. 

The  husband  should  take  his  wife  after  the  bridal  trip  to  a  home. 
A  boarding-house,  a  hotel,  or  the  house  of  the  parents  on  either  side 
should  be  excluded.  A  home,  if  it  is  only  a  tent  or  a  shanty,  is  an 
essential  to  a  marriage.  A  married  couple  can  live  as  cheaply 
and  in  as  much  comfort,  as  to  worldly  matters,  in  a  home  of  their 
own  as  in  a  hotel  or  boarding-house.  The  comfort  and  happiness 
possible  in  a  home  is  altogether  and  completely  impossible  anywhere 
else.  In  a  home  only  can  the  husband  and  wife  really  taste  the  fall 
joys  and  greatness  of  marriage.  A  home  will  make  both  greater, 
nobler,  more  useful,  and  more  successful  than  any  half  life  in  detest- 
able boarding-houses  or  hotels. 

In  the  formative  years  and  until  the  first  children  are  born,  there 
are  few  good  reasons  for  the  permanent  introduction  into  the  house 
of  a  relative— none  for  the  introduction  of  a  stranger. 

The  development  of  the  children  and  their  improvement  upon 
the  original  stock  depend  on  the  development  and  the  use  of  your 
faculties  and  your  wife's.  These  can  be  most  fully  developed  under 
the  full  stimulus  of  a  sound  home  life. 

Outsiders,  whether  friends  or  relatives,  cannot  be  introduced  at 
the  commencement  into  the  home  for  a  length  of  time  without 
endangering  it.  The  direct  mischief  possible  is  great,  especially 
when  the  person,  whether  male  or  female,  brought  in  is  attractive. 
But  this  danger  is  not  the  only  one  ;  it  is  the  indirect  effects  which 
are  to  be  most  feared.  The  presence  of  outsiders  has  two  tenden- 
cies :  the  first  is  to  lessen  the  full  home  life  by  lessening  the  confi- 
dences and  the  freedom  of  man  and  wife, — it  is  a  constraint ;  and 
secondly,  to  make  misunderstandings  between  the  married  ones 
tend  to  quarrels,   and  quarrels  that  become  difficult  to  make  up. 

Pride  in  holding  up  one's  self-esteem  before  an  outsider  has 
caused  many  an  unhealed  breach  in  married  life. 

As  no  one  is  perfect,  not  even  a  new  wife  or  a  new  husband,  so 


Hints  to  the  Husband,  215 

perfection  cannot  be  presumed  ;  consequently  occasional  criticism  in 
personal  or  household  matters  should  be  expected  in  the  adjustments 
of  the  newly  married  and  probably  later  on  in  their  united  lives. 

These  criticisms,  all  advice,  misunderstandings,  and  embraces 
should  never  be  before  witnesses.  The  sting  is  out  of  a  senseless 
squabble  if  no  one  knows  about  it ;  while  on  the  other  hand  the 
joys  and  caresses  of  the  married  excite  the  comment  and  ridicule  of 
the  world  when  improperly  thrust  into  public  view.  Therefore,  keep 
your  family  life  strictly  private. 

A  husband,  conscious  of  his  headship  in  the  family  and  of  his 
power,  should  not  cavil  over  small  things.  When  a  domestic  squall 
breaks,  as  it  occasionally  may,  it  is  usually  good  policy  to  follow  the 
practice  of  shipmasters  in  open  roadsteads  when  storms  come  up — 
that  is  to  put  quietly  to  sea  under  storm  sail,  and  cruise  in  deep 
water  far  from  the  rocks  and  breakers  till  all  is  quiet  again. 

The  first  years  at  least  should  be  spent  by  husband  and  wife  to- 
gether, and  free  from  the  dangers  of  friends  or  relatives  in  the  house- 
hold. Later,  when  children  have  made  marriage  a  real  union,  more 
freedom  in  these  matters  may  be  allowed.  It  is,  however,  never  a 
wise  plan  to  introduce  to  the  intimacy  of  your  home  life  young  men. 

By  intimacy  is  meant  the  entry  into  the  home  at  all  times,  and 
social  intercourse  with  the  wife  without  check.  Women  at  certain 
times  have  moments  when  they  are  scarcely  themselves.  At  such 
times  designing  men  may  ruin  a  really  good  woman.  It  is  not  only 
the  actual  ruin  of  the  wife  which  may  take  place  through  such  im- 
prudence, but  the  confidence  of  the  husband  in  the  wife  may  be 
undermined  and  his  peace  of  mind  destroyed,  even  though  the  wife 
be  really  innocent  of  any  impropriety.  The  happiness  of  the  home 
may  thus  be  more  or  less  cut  down,  and  perhaps  altogether  destroyed. 

A  home  destroyed  is  the  wreck  of  the  wife,  and  in  many  cases  of 
the  husband  also.  Such  an  event  is  a  blot  in  life  that  will  not  out. 
Such  extraordinary  penalties  demand  a  withdrawal  from  risks.  As 
the  pleasures  to  be  gained  bear  no  sort  of  relation  to  the  risks  in- 
curred, it  is  clearly  a  bad  business  proposition  to  be  careless  in  these 
matters.  Nothing  said  in  this  connection  should  be  taken  as  advis- 
ing a  mewing  up  of  the  wife,  nor  should  a  course  of  conduct  be  pur- 
sued likely  to  destroy  her  own  self-respect  and  self-reliance,  for  on 
these  your  honor  rests.  Do  not  place  your  wife  in  temptation,  but 
lead  her  by  just  reason  from  the  first  to  avoid  these  risks  herself  and 
thus  keep  her  reputation  free  from  the  treacherous  stabs  of  scandal. 

In  case  a  man  becomes  persistent  in  attentions,  it  is  advisable  to 
have  a  plain  talk  with  him,  not  necessarily  of  a  quarrelsome  nature ; 
say,  if  you  like,  what  you  have  at  stake,  and  be  plain  and  firm  in  re- 


2 1 6  .  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

fusing  to  allow  the  attentions  to  continue.  In  such  an  open  approac 
to  any  one,  you  will  find  yourself  thrice  armed.  You  are  right  and 
he  is  wrong.  You  have  on  your  side  your  own  force,  the  opinion  of 
the  best,  and  the  necessity  society  is  under  to  maintain  the  purity  of 
the  home  for  the  reproduction  and  the  life  of  the  race.  He  will  stand 
alone,  weakened  by  his  own  sense  of  being  an  intending  thief  You 
need,  therefore,  never  fear  to  be  open  in  the  matter,  being  careful 
never  to  throw  doubt  on  your  wife,  but  to  confine  yourselves  to  the 
motives  of  the  man.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  such  a  necessity  may 
never  come  to  you  ;  but  spying,  crossness,  etc. ,  arising  from  a  proper 
jealousy,  are  bad.  Unconsciously  you  show  your  skeleton  to  the 
world,  while  taking  no  sound  remedy  to  get  rid  of  it.  Thus  the 
reputation  of  your  wife,  and  consequently  of  yourself,  suffers,  her 
strength  for  future  occasion  is  weakened,  and  you  knife  your 
happiness. 

There  is  another  way  of  dealing  with  intruding  men — by  a  sound 
thrashing  or  death.  Kxtremity  is  the  only  excuse  for  such  a  course. 
Observation  will  show  that  women,  whose  husbands  take  this  action, 
become  more  disposed  to  flirtation  than  before.  They  lure  men  on 
careless  of  consequence,  or  perhaps  secretly  pleased  in  the  power  of 
making  men  run  risks  for  them,  or  of  the  notoriety  which  a  conflict 
gives  society  of  their  attractions. 

If  a  man  be  married  to  a  woman,  unable  or  unwilling  to  guard 
and  insure  the  paternity  of  the  children  in  all  her  conduct,  the  best 
remedy  in  our  society  is  divorce.  Still  it  must  be  admitted  that  a 
husband  whose  character  and  courage  mean  death  to  intruders,  will 
probably  have  more  respect  shown  toward  his  preserves  than  one  of 
an  indifierent  and  careless  disposition. 

As  the  husband  demands  and  must  have  chastity  in  his  wife,  he 
should  be  most  careful  to  set  her  no  bad  example  in  his  own  manners 
in  this  respect.  There  is  an  old  saying  that  the  first  person  who  will 
know  of  a  man's  sexual  infidelity  is  his  wife.  Certainly  such  a  dis- 
covery by  a  wife,  as  women  are  now  educated,  would  cause  her  to 
feel  a  just  resentment.  Such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  man  would, 
therefore,  be  likely  to  cause  unhappiness  in  the  home  and  weaken 
the  family  tie.  For  this  reason,  and  on  account  of  the  liability  to 
introduce  venereal  disease  in  the  family,  the  husband  should  main- 
tain strict  chastity  to  all  beside  his  wife. 

Infidelity  on  the  part  of  the  husband  weakens  his  love  of  his  wife 
as  well  as  his  wife's  love  of  him.  It  almost  invariably  leads  to 
sexual  excess,  and  consequently  tends  to  sterility. 

A  wife  who  loves  can  not  be  expected  to  be  indifferent  to  sexual 
license  in  her  husband.     It  is  exceedingly  likely  to  cause  trouble. 


Hints  to  the  Husband,  217 

Rachel  and  Leah,  the  wives  of  Jacob,  in  their  desire  to  increase  his 
family,  sent  each  one  her  maid-servant  to  him  and  gloried  in  their 
conceptions.     Such  generous  rivalry  can  hardly  now  be  counted  on. 

The  husband  may  well  remember  that  the  heart  is  a  realm  and 
kingdom  of  which  one  may  be  sole  monarch.  He  should  aim  at 
such  dominion  and  prize  and  maintain  it  when  secured.  As  he  aims 
to  be  absolute  pontiff  and  king  in  the  heart  of  his  wife,  so  he  should 
make  the  wife,  as  a  means  to  his  own  end,  the  absolute  queen  of  his 
own  heart. 

The  home  which  you  establish  should  by  all  means  be  in  the 
country.  The  rapid  transportation  we  now  have  enables  a  man 
whose  business  is  in  the  city  to  live  in  the  country.  It  is  frequently 
the  case  that  places  in  the  country  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from  a 
city  office  are  reached  more  quickly  and  easily  thanplaces  within 
the  city  itself.  This  hint  is  given  because  the  rewards  of  the  world 
are  now  so  largely  found  in  cities,  that  it  cannot  be  anticipated  but 
that  many  of  my  descendants,  if  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  have  many, 
will  be  lured  into  the  towns.  In  fact,  in  many  occupations,  such  as 
the  law  or  medicine,  a  man  can  find  opportunity  for  the  highest  use 
of  his  faculties  in  cities  only,  and  ought  consequently  to  have  his 
headquarters  in  one  of  them.  Would  that  it  were  otherwise.  Cities 
are  destroyers.  From  the  country  pour  the  thousands  of  recruits 
into  the  city.  Its  great  men  and  its  leaders  are  aliens  strong  from 
the  fresh,  pure  air  of  nature.  The  recruit  comes  strong,  but  is 
weakened  and  in  his  children  still  more  weakened,  which  goes  on 
progressively  with  the  end,  death  to  the  family,  as  certain  as  death 
is  to  the  individual  body.  The  city  convert  thus  condemns  himself 
to  extermination,  while  had  he  remained  upon  his  native  fields  he 
might  through  his  children  and  descendants  have  reached  the  perfect 
race  and  lived  on  forever. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  Section  on  Theory  and  Practice  of  the 
New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  March  19,  1889,  by  Henry  Ling 
Taylor,  M.D.,  appear  the  following  thoughts  : 

"There  is  little  doubt  that  the  specialization  of  occupations  and  pursuits 
which  is  such  a  marked  feature  of  modern  civilized  life,  notably  in  our  cities, 
has  been  in  some  respects  a  detriment  to  our  physical  development.  If  the 
hard  worker  is  now  less  frequently  starved  outright,  he  is  perhaps  more  often 
deprived  of  sufiBcient  light  and  wholesome  air,  and  his  physical  and  mental 
activities  restricted  to  a  narrow  range.  In  the  commercial  and  head-working 
classes  excessive  competition  stimulates,  and  often  necessitates  a  war  of  wits» 
which  is  usually  associated  with  sedentary  habits,  and  frequently  results  in 
starvation  of  the  tissues,  in  a  spindling  or  flabby  physical  type,  diminished 
fertility,  and  stunted  asymmetrical  offspring.  When  we  come  to  analyze  it,  we 
find  that  modern  city  life  among  all  classes,  in  spite  of  much  superficial  variety. 


2 1 8  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

is  characterized  by  nothing  so  much  as  narrowness  if  not  monotony,  and 
is  as  true  of  the  leisure  classes  as  of  any.  What  can  possibly  exceed  in  inade- 
quacy of  n euro-muscular  experience  the  routine  activities  of  a  man  or  woman 
of  fashion  ?  Probably  nothing ;  but  many  of  our  professional  and  business 
men,  working  in  narrow  grooves,  under  continuous  strain,  and  innocent  of  the 
rudiments  of  a  common-sense  hygiene,  many  of  our  overworked  women  and 
high-pressure  children,  certainly  run  a  good  second." 

Thus  it  is  probable  that,  contrary  to  the  generally  accepted 
opinion,  city  life  is  really  more  narrow  and  belittling  than  that  of 
the  country. 

Samuel  Hough  Terry  has  written  a  small  book  called  Controlling 
Sex  in  Generation.  In  it  he  maintains,  amongst  other  things,  that 
a  danger  signal  to  families  is  the  reversal  of  the  rule  and  the  pro- 
duction of  more  daughters  than  sons.  His  statements  go  to  show 
that  accompanying  this  is  a  diminished  virility  of  the  males  bom 
and  also  a  diminished  vitality.  It  is  not  until  about  the  age  of 
puberty  that  this  is  reversed.  At  that  time  the  female  deaths 
become  for  a  time  slightly  higher. 

Well-to-do  families  in  cities  continually  tend  to  the  production  of 
female  children.  The  male  children  which  they  bring  to  maturity 
seem  to  amount  to  little  in  life  and  to  be  effeminate.  In  the  chapter 
on  '*  Marriage"  some  further  examination  of  this  matter  is  had. 
Terry's  statements  require  close  scrutiny. 

In  another  place,  cities  as  places  of  residence  are  again  discussed. 
The  paramount  importance  of  judging  rightly  as  to  the  situation  of 
the  home,  makes  it  advisable  to  neglect  no  point  of  view  when  con- 
sidering so  vital  a  question.  The  weight  of  testimony  appears  to  me 
to  be  against  cities,  but  the  intense  nervous  strain  of  these  great 
centres,  one  of  the  things  to  which  I  object,  may  be  the  means,  nay, 
the  only  road  by  which  humanity  is  to  make  further  progress.  At 
the  risk  of  repetition,  city  life  deserves  some  further  consideration. 

The  ranks  of  the  great  are  filled  from  the  country.  It  is  seldom 
in  our  age  that  a  man  of  prominence  in  any  country  is  of  city  birth 
and  rearing.  Whether  this  is  owing  to  a  diminished  virility  and 
vitality  in  city  children,  to  the  artificial  life  and  artificial  landscape 
and  surroundings,  or  to  some  other  cause,  the  fact  remains  that  a 
country  life,  during  the  formative  period,  is  almost  a  necessity  to 
greatness.  Taking  up  average  life,  we  must  conclude  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  a  boy  reared  in  the  country  will  achieve  more 
than  a  boy  reared  in  the  city. 

Premature  sexual  development  is  also  a  certain  danger  in  city- 
reared  children.  This  probably  is  nature's  first  notice  of  approach- 
ing sterility.     Sexual  precocity  is  a  sign  of  weakness.     It  is  the  sick 


Hints  to  the  Husband.  219 

tree  that  bears  the  first  fruit — a  fruit  poor  in  color,  size,  and  flavor. 
So,  frequently  persons  with  constitutional  disease  and  incapable  of 
procreating  healthy  offspring  hasten  their  own  death  by  sexual 
excesses. 

There  seem,  however,  to  be  exceptions  to  the  exterminating  in- 
fluences of  cities.  The  Jews  certainly  for  a  long  period  of  time  have 
resided  almost  exclusively  in  towns  and  cities.  Whether  their  city 
population  has  been  recruited  from  country  towns,  I  am  unable  to 
say,  but  it  is  evident  that  a  sound  family  life  with  domestic  tastes 
amongst  women  have  a  counteracting  effect  upon  the  generally  un- 
favorable conditions  of  cities.  The  Jews  certainly  maintain  them- 
selves very  well,  although  they  are  par  excellence  a  city  population. 
With  this  race  male  births  exceed  the  female  to  a  greater  extent  than 
is  normal  in  civilized  countries. 

While  unlike  the  Egyptians,  Greeks,  Romans,  etc.,  this  people 
has  escaped  extermination  ;  it  has  not  progressed  as  it  should  have 
done  beyond  the  races  that  have  come  up  around  it.  The  last 
Federal  census  shows  the  reproductive  condition  of  the  high-class 
Jews  in  America  to  be  weakening.  The  failure  of  this  race  to 
dominate  the  world  indicates  that  their  superior  families  or  breeds 
must  have  been  exterminated  like  those  of  the  lost  civilized  peoples. 

The  traveller,  W.  W.  Rockhill,  tells  us  that  the  Chinese  of  the 
populous  province  of  Ssu-ch'-uan  live  altogether  in  towns  of  about 
10,000  inhabitants,  going  out  to  their  farm  work.  As  this  con- 
dition has  prevailed  from  time  immemorial  we  may  perceive  that 
at  least  a  non-progressive  population  may  survive  in  full  reproductive 
vigor,  a  city  centralization  with  country  work.  The  experience  of 
Europe  in  the  forced  concentration  of  the  agricultural  population  into 
towns  during  the  feudal  age,  which  still  largely  persists  in  most  of 
the  continental  districts,  shows  the  same  thing.  The  more  purely 
agricultural  and  country  life  of  the  English  and  early  American 
yeomanry  deserves  our  study  and  investigation.  While  not  produ- 
cing a  population  that  has  averaged  in  individual  genius  anywhere 
near  that  of  Greece,  or  of  the  Italian  republics  (largely  city  popula- 
tions), it  has  given  the  world  a  strong  and  materialistic  progressive 
race  never  before  equalled.  Out  of  sixty  odd  millions  we  do  not 
produce  as  much  known  mental  genius  in  a  given  time  as  came 
from  the  sixty  odd  thousands  of  the  city  of  Florence,  and  nothing 
at  all  compared  to  the  two  hundred  odd  thousands  of  free  Greeks. 

If  Terry's  suggestions  be  true,  that  life  in  a  city  by  parents  will 
diminish  the  strength  in  all  ways  of  the  children,  we  have  strong 
reasons  indeed  for  refusing  to  live  in  one.  I  believe  that  city  life  has 
not  only  a  dwarfing  effect  on  the  intellect  and  physical  force  of  the 


2  20  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

children  born  in  cities,  but  also  upon  those  who  come  into  them  To 
reside,  who  were  born  in  the  country.  In  the  country  we  may  take 
the  hand  of  Nature,  in  the  city  everything  is  artificial.  In  the  one 
case,  Truth  predominates,  for  Nature  is  Truth ;  in  the  other,  all  is 
artifice,  and  for  the  most  part  far  from  the  truth  indeed. 

The  death-rate  in  cities  is  much  higher  than  in  the  country. 
This  is  especially  the  case  with  young  children.  In  some  cities,  as 
New  York  for  instance,  this  death-rate  is  so  high  that,  were  the  city 
population  dependent  upon  its  own  reproductive  powers,  it  would 
soon  disappear.  The  laws  of  health  are  becoming  better  understood 
and  sanitary  measures  are  being  everywhere  undertaken  on  a 
large  or  small  scale,  so  that  some  of  these  disadvantages  are  being 
overcome. 

At  the  present  time  and  upon  our  present  incomplete  information, 
we  may  affirm  that  an  American  family  living  in  a  city  is  doomed  to 
extermination  within  four  generations.  One  individual  only  of  the 
fifth  generation  of  I,ondon  birth  was  found  in  that  city  by  an  eminent 
and  careful  observer.  Bowdin  could  discover  no  pure-blooded 
Parisians  beyond  the  third  generation. 

Marriage  being  to  get  children  for  the  continuation  of  the  life  of 
the  individual  through  them,  it  becomes  an  idle  thing  to  marry  and 
then  live  where  the  children  are  either  certain  to  die  early  or  else 
are  certain  to  kill  the  breed  and  family  in  a  short  time  through  their 
weakened  reproductive  powers. 

The  future  of  the  family  in  the  children  is  the  most  important 
consideration  in  counselling  against  cities  as  places  of  residence. 
Added  to  the  above  reason  is  this,  that  the  home  is  never  so  com- 
pletely a  home  in  the  city  as  in  the  country.  The  attractions  and 
diversions  of  a  great  city,  the  crowd  even,  that  ceaselessly  tramps 
along  the  hard  stones,  have  their  fascinations. 

The  welfare  and  amusement  of  the  husband  or  the  wife  seem  less 
dependent  on  each  other  under  these  conditions.  The  happiest 
marriages  and  the  most  complete  unions  are  therefore  in  the  country. 

Besides  all  this,  city  life  in  its  attractions  and  ambitions,  and  in 
the  continual  presence  of  a  strange  crowd,  is  not  favorable  to  mater- 
nity. The  modesty  of  the  pregnant  woman,  and  the  exercise  neces- 
sary for  her  health,  are  at  war.  Thus  city  families  have  fewer 
children  than  country  ones,  and  there  are  more  marriages  quite 
sterile  in  cities  also. 

It  must  be  said,  however,  that  some  of  the  small  towns  in  New 
England  are  an  exception  to  this  rule.  Small  families  and  sterility 
are  more  noticeable  in  some  of  these  than  in  many  of  our  large  cities. 
This  is  owing  to  a  false  education  that  teaches  nothing  as  to  the 


Hints  to  the  Husband. 


221 


value  and  necessity  of  child-bearing,  and  at  the  same  time  implants 
in  the  girls  ambitions  inconsistent  with  maternity. 

You  cannot  hope  to  lead  a  complete  married  life  without  children, 
nor  to  have  the  complete  happiness  a  wife  can  give  in  their  absence. 
As  the  city  is  so  inimical  to  the  grand  object  of  matrimony,  it  should 
be  avoided,  at  least  for  the  home.  The  sickness  and  weakness  city 
life  usually  produces  in  children,  it  is  to  be  expected,  will  diminish 
the  happiness  of  your  wife,  the  mother,  and  consequently  yours  also. 

The  vice  and  wickedness  of  cities  presented  to  you  every  day,  as 
it  must  be  should  you  reside  in  a  city,  will  assuredly  injure  your 
character.     Can  you  touch  pitch  and  not  be  defiled  ? 

Recent  statistics  in  England  show  that,  at  the  same  age,  the 
country  resident  weighs  more  than  the  city  man.     The  figures  are  : 


Height. 

Weight. 

Breathing, 

Pull. 

Squeeze. 

Cambridge 
(country) 

Kensington 
(city) 

68.9  in. 
67.9  " 

153.6  lbs. 
143  " 

254 
219 

83 
74 

87.5 
85 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  physically  there  is  a  marked  advantage 
to  the  adult  in  the  country.  The  difierence  is  the  more  noticeable 
as  the  district  of  Kensington  selected  to  represent  cities  is  an  excep- 
tional and  superior  one.  The  common  observation  of  an  inquirer, 
merely  looking  at  any  gathering  of  countr}^  and  then  at  one  of  city 
children,  will  be  convinced  that  the  inferiority  of  city  adults  com- 
pared to  country  people  is  shared  by  the  children  also.  The 
intellectual  grasp  of  the  country  children,  being  shown  in  another 
place  to  be  greater  than  those  of  the  city,  the  disadvantages  of  city 
life  become  clear. 

When  we  consider  that  the  highest  rewards  for  effort  have 
generally  been  found  in  the  cities  of  the  world,  and  that  consequently 
the  strongest  and  most  amljitious  have  been  for  centuries  drifting  to 
the  cities,  we  may  well  note  with  attention  the  fact  that  our  leaders 
and  thinkers,  speaking  generally,  are,  as  they  have  been,  bom  in  the 
country.  The  continued  recruiting  of  the  city  population  from  the 
cream  of  the  country  has  not  in  all  time  enabled  it  to  produce  its  own 
leaders. 

The  city  then  is  a  place  where  we  can  hardly  hope  to  maintain 
for  our  children  a  grand  superiority,  much  less  make  an  advance. 
If  the  cities,  after  ages  of  immigration  of  the  best  and  strongest  of 


The   Conquest  of  Death. 

mankind,  are  unable,  from  a  thus  selected  population,  to  produce 
the  leaders  of  mankind  within  their  own  precincts,  there  must  be 
something  fatally  deteriorating  in  their  influences.  It  may  be  that 
a  race  will  eventually  develop  with  superior  mental  endowments, 
able  to  overcome  the  drawbacks  of  cities,  while  reaping  their  material 
rewards.     This  possibility  should  be  carefully  watched  for. 

Quatrefages  in  his  Human  Species^  page  224  et  seq. ,  cites  a  number 
of  facts  which  go  to  suggest  this  possibility.  He  shows  in  these  that 
animals  and  men  emigrating  into  new  climates  often  suffer  an 
increased  death-rate  and  diminished  birth-rate.  Sometimes  this 
goes  so  far  as  to  indicate  extermination.  A  death-rate  higher  than 
the  birth-rate  must  eventually  end  in  this  way.  But  he  shows  that 
a  condition  of  this  kind  is  frequently  overcome. 

The  goose,  when  introduced  at  Bogota,  seemed  doomed  through 
diminished  fertility  and  vitality  to  extermination.  It  is  now,  how- 
ever, passed  the  crisis,  and  seems  as  vigorous  in  its  new  home  as  in 
its  old  one.  The  introduction  of  chickens  at  Cuzco  was  beset  by  the 
same  difficulty.  Infertile  or  addled  eggs  showed  a  lack  of  fertility 
in  both  the  male  and  the  female.  The  eggs  laid  were  few,  and  the 
mortality  of  the  chicks  hatched  was  excessive.  Now,  however,  the 
chickens  at  Cuzco  have  become  established  by  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  and  they  seem  as  thrifty  as  elsewhere. 

The  negro  slaves  introduced  into  the  Southern  States,  to  Brazil, 
Jamaica,  Cuba,  and  the  French  Antilles,  showed  for  a  long  time  a 
death-rate  greater  than  the  birth-rate,  and  the  fact  was  often  cited  to 
show  that  without  the  slave-trade  the  plantations  could  not  long  be 
manned.  We  see,  however,  the  black  race  now  established  in  all 
these  places. 

So,  also,  with  the  whites  in  Martinique,  Isle  of  Bourbon,  Algiers, 
lyouisiana,  and  in  many  places,  the  death-rate  was  at  first  excessive 
and  above  the  birth-rate,  but  we  find  these  conditions  now  overcome 
and  the  whites  maintaining  themselves  in  all  these  places.  The 
acclimatization,  however,  cannot  be  accomplished  when  the  condi- 
tions are  very  unfavorable  without  a  great  loss  of  individuals  and 
without  a  heavy  risk  of  failure. 

During  the  Civil  War  of  the  sixties  in  America,  the  figures  of 
the  medical  department  and  the  observation  of  many  field  officers 
indicate  that  the  regiments  from  the  cities  were  less  subject  to 
sickness,  that  their  members  wounded  recovered  more  quickly,  that 
they  marched  better  and  generally  had  more  endurance  than  the 
soldiers  from  the  country,  and  suffered  less  from  night  work  and  loss 
of  sleep.  These  statements,  in  the  main,  rest  on  sufficiently  good 
authority  to  demand  attention. 


Hints  to  the  Husband,  223 

In  imagining  an  explanation  to  fit  our  other  information,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  an  explanation  of  unfavorable  facts  is  usually 
more  or  less  faulty.  With  this  condition  the  following  points  are 
offered  to  reconcile  the  divergence  : 

I  St.  That  the  campaigning  life  to  the  city  resident  was  a 
medicine  and  healthier  perhaps,  even  with  all  its  hardships,  than  the 
one  from  which  he  came,  and  that  consequently  his  constitution  and 
condition  improved. 

2d.  That  the  composition  of  regiments  could  only  be  approx- 
imately known,  and  that  many  of  the  city  soldiers  were  bom,  if  not 
reared,  in  the  country. 

3d.  That  the  exposures  of  city  life  had  weeded  out  largely  those 
subject  to  disease,  such  as  measles,  small-pox,  scarlet  fever,  etc., 
while  the  country  man,  brought  suddenly  into  crowded  camps 
without  this  full  weeding  process,  became  peculiarly  liable  to  epi- 
demics of  such  diseases. 

4th.  The  figures  apply  as  far  as  they  go  to  the  Northern  armies 
alone.  The  Southern  armies  were  almost  exclusively  composed  of 
coim  try-bom  and  country -bred  men.  In  endurance  of  poor  clothing, 
poor  food,  and  hard  marching,  they  sinpassed  the  Northern  soldiers. 
Whether  they  would  have  done  so  had  the  case  been  reversed  and 
the  Northern  homesteads  and  sovereignty  been  at  stake,  is  a  ques- 
tion. The  Northern  army  was  comparatively  a  city  army ;  the 
Southern,  a  country  one.  In  this  aspect,  man  for  man,  the  country 
army  must  be  considered  the  best  as  to  endurance. 

The  army  officers  with  whom  I  have  conversed  on  this  point 
nearly  all  noted  the  superior  facility  of  making  good  soldiers  quickly 
out  of  city  men  as  compared  to  country  ones.  Contagious  disease 
and  homesickness  seem  the  most  troublesome  things  to  country  men 
newly  enlisted.  After  the  acclimatization,  however,  the  coimtry  man 
seems,  generally  considered,  to  have  been  the  best  man. 

One  Western  officer,  Col.  Miller,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
pioneer  or  frontiersman  made,  by  far,  the  best  soldier.  One  of  the 
principal  recruiting  officers  in  the  army  says  that  he  would  take  a 
countryman  as  a  recruit  every  time  in  preference  to  a  city  man. 

Gen.  Irwin  McDowell  and  Gen.  Crittenden  are  my  principal 
authorities  on  the  deficiencies  of  the  country  man  on  first  enlistment 
in  the  army.  Col.  C.  Mason  Kinne  thinks  that  the  city  soldiers 
stood  the  hardships  of  the  war  better  throughout.  His  explanation 
is  that  those  who  could  not  stand  the  irregularities  and  strain  of 
cities  died  young,  and  that  only  those  of  superior  vitality  were  left  to 
enlist.  These,  if  they  had  been  reared  in  the  country,  would  have 
been  stronger  and  hardier  than  they  were,  in  his  opinion. 


224  The  Conquest  of  Death, 


^ 


Col.  Volkman,  on  the  other  hand,  thinks  the  country  men  always 
the  best.  His  extensive  experience  as  First  Aid  to  Gen.  Sheridan, 
as  recruiting  oflScer  for  many  years,  and  in  other  positions  of  vantage 
in  this  question,  make  his  testimony  valuable.  The  proportion  of 
recruits  rejected  for  physical  defects  is  very  materially  greater  in 
cities  than  in  the  country  ;  if  to  this  cause  were  added  moral  defects, 
the  disadvantage,  in  this  officer's  opinion,  would  be  still  greater. 

As  a  rule  in  history  pastoral  tribes  or  hunters,  such  as  the 
Huns,  Goths,  Vandals,  Arabs,  Mongols,  Turks,  etc.,  have  been 
superior  in  fighting  qualities  to  the  educated  and  civilized  people 
with  whom  they  have  contended.  Such  tribes  were  all  country 
men,  while  to  a  large  extent  their  victims,  the  civilized,  were  citizens 
of  cities. 

Even  in  late  years  with  all  the  superiority  of  civilized  weapons 
in  war,  we  find  naked  bands  of  Zulus  near  Natal,  of  Bedouins  in 
Nubia,  with  swords  or  spears  destroying  the  splendidly  drilled  and 
armed  troops  of  England. 

The  wild  Indians  often  w^orry  the  American  army,  as  witness  the 
destruction  of  Custer  by  the  Sioux,  while  even  in  peaceful  Samoa,  a 
band  of  German  marines,  we  hear,  are  defeated  and  driven  off  by  the 
naked  natives. 

The  medical  history  of  the  war  in  America,  while  worthy  of 
careful  study,  does  not  seem  sufficient  to  shake  our  general  facts  as 
to  the  effects  of  cities,  so  far,  upon  mankind. 

A  theory  has  been  advanced  to  account  for  the  superior  qualities 
noted  in  the  city  regiments,  based  upon  a  supposed  storage  of  energy 
in  the  city  man  through  good  feeding.  It  is  true  that  the  food  of 
the  city  man  is  generally  better  and  better  prepared  than  that  of  the 
country  man.  Some  force  is  given  to  this  theory  by  such  facts  as 
the  superior  endurance  of  cold  in  the  Russian  campaign  of  Napoleon 
by  the  soldiers  of  Southern  France  and  Italy.  This  has  been  much 
remarked  on,  for  with  less  protection  they  stood  the  cold  and  priva- 
tions better  even  than  the  Russians  themselves.  It  was  the  Ger- 
mans of  the  central  provinces  who  had  the  least  vigor  in  this  re- 
spect, and  their  losses  in  this  terrible  campaign  practically  swept 
whole  corps  of  their  soldiers  out  of  existence. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  temperate  climate,  with  but  few  ex- 
tremes, of  Provence  and  Italy  allows  the  energies  of  the  food  eaten 
by  man  to  accumulate  in  some  unknown  way  and  thus  to  furnish  a 
storehouse  to  draw  upon  in  emergency ;  consequently  men  from  such 
climates  may  be  expected  to  support  the  rigors  of  a  more  northern 
winter  for  at  least  a  year  or  two  better  than  those  born  under  the 
bear.     People  from  Southern  California  seem  to  resist  the  cold  of 


Hints  to  the  Husband.  225 

their  first  eastern  winter  better  than  the  eastern  residents  themselves. 
This  explanation  is  not  satisfactorj-. 

Another  important  consideration  in  this  connection  is  that  the 
moral  health  is  as  much  benefited  b}^  the  country  as  the  physical. 
Immoral  acts  are  more  difficult  in  the  country  than  in  the  city,  for 
they  are  more  difficult  to  conceal. 

The  mode  and  system  of  life  make  all  crime  comparatively  easy 
in  cities.  The  excitement,  the  crowding,  the  luxury,  the  strain  on 
the  nerves,  and  the  decoys  to  lead  one  on  are  all  in  the  city.  In  the 
country  a  man  and  his  habits  are  known  for  miles  around.  In  the 
city  one  may  never  even  have  seen  his  next-door  neighbor,  and  in  a 
few  blocks  any  one  can  get  into  a  locality  where  no  person  knows  or 
cares  for  him.  Thus  in  the  country  fathers,  mothers,  and  later  the 
children  are  removed  from  the  grosser  temptations  to  crime.  With 
the  nurses  and  servants  it  is  the  same.  They  must  lead  better  lives 
in  the  country  than  in  the  city. 

The  city  offers  the  only  exception  to  the  rule  laid  down  that  we 
must  work  either  productively  or  unproductively,  either  in  virtue 
for  the  good  or  in  vice  for  the  bad.  The  exception  is,  it  is  true,  but 
a  partial  one.  A  city  does  give  more  capacity  for  idleness,  and  con- 
sequently for  death  and  extermination  of  the  family,  than  the  coun- 
try. The  amusements,  theatres,  gardens,  and  even  the  crowds 
moving  in  the  streets  visible  firom  a  window  seat,  give  an  occupation 
to  the  mind  that  is  no  occupation.  The  outside  movements  of  the 
city  permit  an  individual  idleness  that  would  be  intolerable  in  the 
country  ;  consequently,  this  possibility  for  nonentity,  for  the  decay 
through  non-use  of  the  faculties,  should  be  avoided.  Many  city 
persons  now  cannot  endure  the  country ;  when  in  it  they  are  the 
victims  of  ennui.  Such  persons  with  few  exceptions  are  non-pro- 
ducers and  belong  to  the  useless  or  dangerous  class. 

The  city  amusements,  such  as  theatres,  etc. ,  stir  up  the  emotions 
without  creating  any  action.  We  sympathize  with  the  hero,  weep 
with  the  afflicted,  condemn  the  villain, — and  do  nothing.  Thus 
theatrical  representations  in  excess  form  in  us  the  habit  of  being 
stirred  to  our  nature's  depths  without  action.  This  is  their  worst 
feature.     Never  select  a  home  in  the  city. 

Every  wife  should  have  an  occupation  in  the  home.  The  larger 
part  of  her  time  should  be  taken  up  in  regular  duties  of  some  useful 
kind.  This  is  necessary  for  your  happiness,  for  her  happiness,  for 
her  health,  and  for  the  development  through  use  of  her  faculties,  so 
that  these  may  add  force  to  her  children  by  inheritance.  No  one  can 
be  healthy  who  has  for  any  length  of  time  nothing  to  do.  The  health 
not  only  of  the  body  but  of  the  morals  and  of  the  mind  is  involved. 


2  26  The   Conquest  of  Death. 

You  should  have  something  to  do,  so  should  your  wife,  and  so 
should  your  children.  Idleness  is  the  true  devil.  It  leads  to  the 
hardest  and  most  painful  kinds  of  work,  paid  in  distressing  wages. 
The  work  of  vice  is  born  of  idleness. 

Therefore  give  your  wife  an  occupation,  see  to  it  that  she  has 
some  useful  duty  to  interest  her.  Vice  is  but  too  likely  to  capture 
idle  hands.     The  alternative  is  inanity. 

If  idleness  did  not  endanger  morality  and  chastity  it  would  be 
still  most  reprehensible.  In  idleness  the  faculties  fail ;  without  use 
our  bodies  and  brains  get  into  a  rust.  A  man  who  does  not  use  his 
body  soon  loses  the  power  to  do  so.  He  either  becomes  obese  or 
else  emaciated  with  dyspepsia,  muscular  force  decreases,  the  phy- 
sique retrogresses.  So  the  sedentary  lose  the  health  of  the  body. 
The  health  of  the  mind  depends  equally  upon  reasonable  use.  It  is 
the  shepherd,  who,  of  all  employed  men,  has  least  use  for  his  brain, 
as  it  is  the  shepherd  also  that  furnishes  of  all  occupations  the  largest 
proportion  of  insane.  All  results  of  a  true  or  of  an  improper  life  are 
transmissible ;  therefore,  for  the  children's  sake,  for  the  future,  the 
wife  should  be  usefully  employed  in  both  body  and  mind.  Her  first 
employments  should  be  in  household  works.  These  will  be  found 
sufficient  in  the  majority  of  cases.  In  fact,  domestic  life,  being  the 
key  to  the  future,  is  the  most  important  in  the  state.  In  Tasks  by 
Twilight  the  chapter  on  the  ''  Education  of  the  Girl,"  shows  that 
chemistry,  engineering,  medicine,  etc.,  may  be  brought  into  the 
every-day  home  life  of  the  wife.  Thus  the  highest  attainments  are 
useful  in  the  home,  and  a  strictly  home  life  is  perfectly  compatible 
with  an  interest  in  the  most  important  knowledge  acquired  by 
mankind. 

The  charms  of  home  life  depend  on  the  useful,  but  the  ornamental 
is  important  also.  So  the  wife  has  a  place  for  surplus  energy  in 
music  and  painting.  The  most  important  of  the  home  duties  is,  of 
course,  the  rearing  of  children.  The  wdfe  in  this  work  forms  the 
next  generation,  which  is  the  most  influential  work  of  life. 

The  only  point  to  be  considered  in  providing  for  the  employment 
of  the  wife  is  that  it  should  never  place  her  in  dubious  positions. 
The  security  of  the  paternity  of  his  children  is  of  the  first  import- 
ance to  the  man,  and  all  things  throwing  the  least  doubt  on  this  in 
the  past,  present,  or  future  are  dangerous.  So,  also,  all  ambitions 
vShould  be  directed  to  childbirth,  or  things  immediate  to  it. 

True  development  of  the  physique,  brain,  and  faculties  must  im- 
prove the  children  born.  No  development  is  too  great  for  the 
mother,  provided  her  child-bearing  capacity  and  will  for  it  be  not 
interfered  with. 


Hints  to  the  Husband.  227 

In  home  matters  the  wife  should  have  charge  and  be  responsible. 
Thus  by  responsibility  will  her  character  be  strengthened.  Feeling 
her  responsibility,  she  will  take  an  interest  in  the  household  w'elfare 
and  economy  that  could  not  otherwise  be  expected.  Put  her  in 
charge  of  these  matters.  Express  household  wishes  to  your  wife 
and  let  all  orders  proceed  through  her.  If  this  practice  be  adopted, 
many  sources  of  friction  will  be  avoided.  Under  this  scheme  ser- 
vants have  one  head  to  look  to,  cannot  receive  contradictory  orders 
from  dififerent  chiefs,  and  can  never  give  the  excuse  for  non-per- 
formance of  orders  that  some  one  else  told  them  to  do  something 
else.  The  wife's  self-reliance  and  standing  in  the  household  will  be 
increased,  and  her  interest  in  domestic  affairs  must  be  improved  if 
slight,  or  maintained  if  strong. 

A  woman  is  much  more  emotional  than  a  man.  It  is  therefore 
necessary  for  the  man  to  make  an  extra  effort  in  keeping  up  the 
little  attentions  and  marks  of  affection  so  much  prized  by  a  wife. 
Husbands  often  become  lax  in  these  matters  and  lose  much  happi- 
ness by  doing  so.  A  husband  should  be  as  polite  in  speech  and 
conduct  to  his  wife  as  he  would  be  to  any  strange  lady  in  similar  cir- 
cumstances, nay  more  so,  for  the  stranger  he  may  never  see  again, 
while  the  wife  is  his  companion  for  life.  So  often  one  sees  this  rule 
violated,  so  often  one  is  shocked  and  made  uncomfortable  by  the 
rudeness  of  married  people  to  each  other,  and  their  neglect  of  the 
common  courtesies  of  society -when  outsiders  are  present  to  see,  that 
we  must  believe  that  these  practices  are  usual  in  private  married 
life.  What  an  amount  of  unnecessary  friction,  mortification,  and  loss 
of  life's  sunshine  this  mistaken  conduct  means,  it  would  be  difiicult 
to  tell.     Avoid  this  rock. 

Never  nag.  Never  be  less  considerate  in  your  dress  or  address 
when  alone  with  your  wife  than  when  with  strangers.  Carelessness 
in  these  matters  is  both  common  and  foolish.  A  little  verse  taught 
to  children  has  a  power  of  wisdom  in  it : 

**  Little  drops  of  water,  little  grains  of  sand, 
Make  the  mighty  ocean  and- the  beauteous  land  ; 
I/ittle  deeds  of  kindness,  little  words  of  love, 
Make  the  world  an  Eden  like  the  Heaven  above." 

lyife  is  made  up  of  little  things.  An  accumulation  of  little  irrita- 
tions will  bring  discontent  if  not  a  passionate  outburst  after  they 
have  reached  a  climax.  It  was  the  straw  that  broke  the  camel's 
back.  On  the  other  hand,  little  attentions  and  care  in  the  detail  of 
life  make  happiness  when  many  larger  considerations  would  counter- 
indicate  it. 


2  28  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

If  you  can  afford  it  take  two  morning  newspapers,  one  for  your 
wife,  one  for  yourself.  A  thousand  and  one  little  directions  of  this 
kind  can  be  given  but  cannot  be  remembered.  Consequently  the 
general  principle  of  treating  the  wife  with  a  consideration  greater 
than  that  given  to  friends,  must  be  the  standard  set  up  to  govern  the 
minor  happenings  of  life. 

Good  manners  are  the  result  of  rules  followed  in  conduct,  that  by 
long  experience  have  been  found  most  conducive  to  happy  and 
smooth  intercourse  amongst  mankind  in  the  social  state.  I^east  of 
all  should  these  rules  be  neglected  in  the  home.  The  last  shred  of 
politeness  a  man  possesses  should  be  wrapped  around  the  hearts  he 
loves. 

The  home  is  the  holy  of  holies  of  society.  From  it  springs  the 
future.  It  is  the  inspiration  to  greatness,  the  sanctuary  of  the  heart. 
Nothing  is  too  good  for  it,  no  diplomacy  too  high,  no  manners  too 
fine,  no  science  too  grand.  On  the  contrary  all  these  and  all  inven- 
tions are  servants  to  the  home  and  secondary  to  it.  The  home  or 
family  is  the  foundation  of  society  upon  which  all  else  rests,  to  which 
all  else  is  servant.  Let  the  wife  then  know  the  importance  of  her 
position,  that  as  mother  and  as  influencer  and  former  of  her  children, 
as  manager  of  the  home,  it  is  she  who  holds  the  key  to  the  future  of 
the  race,  and  in  reality  holds  the  most  important  position  in  society. 
The  occupations  of  men  and  their  strength  when  properly  directed 
are  all  for  the  support  and  defence  of  the  home,  which  is  the  citadel 
of  society  held  by  the  wife. 

Often  married  people  who  have  an  affection  for  each  other  get 
into  the  unfortunate  habit  of  nagging,  speaking  crossly,  and  gen- 
erally treating  each  other  as  they  never  would  think  of  treating  a 
stranger  under  the  same  circumstances.  The  rules  of  social  inter- 
course are  for  the  avoidance  by  mankind  of  grating  and  unpleasant 
occurrences,  and  to  promote  ease  and  happiness  in  our  general  rela- 
tions. If  we  find  these  rules  useful  for  our  welfare  in  dealing  with 
society,  the  members  of  which  we  may  meet  once  a  day,  once  a 
week,  once  a  year,  or  perhaps  never  again,  how  much  more  essential 
are  they  in  the  family  whose  members  we  are  with  so  much  ;  espe- 
cially are  they  important  for  the  wife  and  husband  who  are  together 
more  or  less  both  at  night  and  in  the  day. 

In  Deuteronomy,  Chap,  xxiv.,  the  following  rule  is  made: 
*'  When  a  man  hath  taken  a  new  wife,  he  shall  not  go  out  to  war, 
neither  shall  he  be  charged  with  any  business,  but  he  shall  be  free 
at  home  one  year,  and  shall  cheer  up  his  wife,  which  he  hath 
taken." 

The  first  year  of  married  life,  as  Moses  indicates,  is  the  formative 


Hints  to  the  Husband,  229 

one.  It  is  important  to  pay  more  than  ordinary  attention  to  the 
wife  at  that  time. 

The  general  strategy  of  successful  sexual  companionship  is 
worthy  of  some  consideration.  For  with  the  proper  points  before 
one  many  minor  errors  leading  to  discord  and  unhappiness  may  be 
avoided. 

A  woman  may  give  herself  to  a  man  in  spirit — that  is,  she  may 
be  willing  to  give  herself  corporeally,  and  thus  give  herself  in  wish, 
though  not  in  act.  This  is  capable  of  producing  great  devotion  on 
the  part  of  the  woman. 

When  the  willingness  to  give  is  followed  by  the  woman's  sur- 
render of  her  person  to  the  man,  there  is  in  this  act  and  at  that  time 
an  intense  instinctive  worship  of  the  man. 

She  gives,  he  takes.  She  demands  to  be  dominated.  She  sur- 
renders and  abdicates  every  command  and  power.  She  leans  upon 
him,  lies  in  his  arms  at  his  orders  and  in  his  power.  As  her  body 
has  merged  in  his,  so  she  desires  to  merge  into  him  and  be  part  of 
him  in  all  things.  There  is  nothing  too  much  for  her  to  do  for  him, 
no  self-effacement  too  great,  no  act  to  indicate  devotion  or  worship 
too  menial  or  too  much  a  confession  of  conquest  for  her  to  make. 

Here  is  the  point  of  strategy  for  the  husband  and  wife  to  con- 
sider.    She  must  give.     He  must  take. 

This  is  the  key  that  commands  marriage. 

If  this  essential  to  all  marriage  be  properly  started  and  properly 
maintained,  the  marriage  must  succeed.  No  matter  what  other  con- 
ditions may  fail,  the  due  acceptance  and  holding  by  the  man  of  the 
woman's  surrender  will  make  all  else  secondary.  He  may  beat  her, 
she  will  forgive  it.  He  may  squander  her  property,  she  will  give 
him  more.  He  may  be  untrue  and  she  will  welcome  him  again.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  this  strategic  situation  does  not  stand,  no  wealth, 
position,  or  anything  can  cure  its  absence. 

Indeed,  in  the  first  case,  a  divorce  or  marriage-breaking  may 
occur.  But  such  division,  as  far  as  the  woman  is  concerned,  is  ad- 
ventitious, formal,  nominal,  not  real,  and  no  matter  what  injuries  her 
husband  may  heap  on  her,  she  will  still  bear  a  fuller  and  better 
rounded  life, — happier,  in  fact,  than  if  separated  from  him  and  freed 
from  his  abuse. 

So,  on  the  other  hand,  no  ease,  idleness,  comfort,  wealth,  position, 
nor  power  can  fill  any  wife's  heart  or  life  if  this  marriage-give-and- 
take,  this  strategy  of  situation,  be  not  there. 

Do  not  confuse  a  continued  corporeal  application  of  this  principle 
with  spiritual  strategy,  so  difl&cult  to  describe  and  which  is  here 
intended. 


230  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

No  one  in  liis  or  her  senses  expects  a  happy  marriage  where  the 
husband  beats  his  wife  like  some  primitive  savage,  or  uses  his 
masculine  ascendancy  to  get  hold  of  her  property  to  waste  it. 
None  of  these  things  mean  happiness,  but  a  woman  is  more  capable 
of  devotion  to  a  man  who  beats  her,  than  to  one  she  beats. 

It  is  the  husband's  business  to  understand  the  importance  of  care 
to  his  wife  during  pregnancy  and  childbirth.  Some  points  are  given 
on  this  subject  in  the  "Treatment  of  the  Child,"  but  the  subject  is 
only  touched  on.  A  husband  should  make  a  study  of  what  is  proper 
at  these  times  and  should  certainly  read  up  on  obstetrics,  and  if  possi- 
ble take  a  course  in  this  study.  This  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  making 
him  a  midwife,  but  so  that  by  accurate  information  he  can  see  that 
the  proper  attention  is  given  by  those  practically  qualified. 

Childbirth  is  the  true  realization  of  marriage.  The  mystery 
and  grandeur  of  creation  are  then  possessed  by  the  happy  pair.  It 
is  the  grand  crisis  as  it  is  the  grand  moment  when  hope  is  made  cap- 
tive and  your  life  is  renewed.  Neglect  no  precaution  at  this  time, 
deprive  yourself  of  no  assistance,  for  your  fortunes,  your  studies,  and 
your  efforts  when  truly  directed  are  all  for  the  wonderful  achievement 
of  your  own  new  birth  in  the  child. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
A  WORD  TO  THE  WIFE. 

THE  primary  reason  for  marriage  is  to  secure  the  paternity  of 
children.  Therefore,  when  a  woman  becomes  a  wife,  the 
principal  duty  of  her  life  is  to  bear  children,  and  to  so  guard 
her  virtue  that  not  even  a  doubt  of  it  can  find  lodgment  in  her  hus- 
band. She  should  not  permit  intimacies  to  grow  up  between  any 
man  other  than  her  husband  and  herself.  What  is  called  flirtation 
in  a  married  woman  is  simply  damnable.  The  more  sound  a  man 
the  husband  is,  the  more  certain  it  is  that  such  destruction  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  home  will  alienate  him  from  the  wife. 

No  true  wife  will  be  untrue  in  fact  or  in  semblance.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly bad  policy  on  the  part  of  a  wife  to  be  flirtatious  with  other 
men.  She  sees  them  tO-day,  but  may  never  see  them  again.  Their 
interest  at  best  is  but  a  passing  one,  intense  perhaps  for  the  moment 
of  to-day,  but  gone  in  the  hours  of  the  to-morrow. 

The  attentions  of  men  to  the  wives  of  others  is  at  base  nearly 
always  due  to  improper  motives.  Once  gratified  in  their  wishes,  it 
is  not  long  before  these  butterfly  seducers  fly  to  new  flowers,  and 
abandon  to  a  life  of  reproach  and  misery  those  whom  they  betray 
and  ruin. 

Upon  the  husband  the  wife  depends  for  her  position  in  society, 
and  on  him  also  for  her  happiness.  If  he  throws  her  ofi"  for  cause, 
society  frowns  upon  her,  for  society  depends  on  the  family  for  its 
existence,  and  as  it  is  healthy,  so  will  it  resent  unwifely  conduct 
leading  to  the  injury  of  the  family. 

If,  however,  the  wife  has  not  gone  into  the  gulf,  only  played  on 
the  edge,  and  lives  on  with  her  husband,  his  confidence  will  be 
shaken  in  her,  and  a  shadow  will  be  on  the  hearth.  The  complete 
happiness  of  home  life  will  be  impossible.  The  risk  being  so  great, 
the  w4fe  should  not  only  maintain  her  virtue  in  fact,  but  should 
avoid  as  well  the  slightest  cause  for  scandal.  Scandal  is  much 
decried,  but  it  is  a  great  protector  of  society  and  of  the  family. 
Beware  of  it,  for  it  sees  when  you  least  suspect. 

The  web  in  which  the  wife  has  caught  her  husband  she  should 

231 


232  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

ever  work  to  transform  into  a  safe  and  close  cage  for  his  heart.  A 
husband  caught  is  not  yet  fully  secured.  The  ceremony  of  marriage 
is  but  the  conventionality  to  be  followed  by  other  things.  It  is  after 
the  vows  are  passed  that  the  wife  enters  into  the  business  of  really 
securing  her  husband  to  herself.  If  she  leave  him  in  the  web  of 
fancy  in  which  he  was  caught,  doing  no  more  for  him  or  to  fasten 
him,  but,  on  the  contrary,  devote  herself  to  weaving  other  webs  for 
piratical  bachelors  and  society  men,  she  will  find  marriage  a  lottery 
indeed,  and  herself  no  prize-winner. 

Where  the  substance  goes  the  shadow  must  follow.  The  child  is 
the  substance  of  marriage.  To  the  extent  that  marriages  are  child- 
less, to  the  extent  that  husbands  and  wives  seek  to  avoid  procrea- 
tion, so  do  they  take  the  substance  out  of  marriage.  Its  shadow,  the 
form,  convention,  and  habit  of  society,  cannot  remain  when  the  sub- 
stance is  gone.  So  we  find  with  decreasing  birth-rate  increasing 
divorce.     I^t  wives  remember  this. 

In  certain  times,  places,  and  societies,  cosmetics  for  the  face  are 
or  have  been  used,  and  doubtless  will  remain  in  use,  or  come  into 
fashion  again.  Whatever  may  be  said  for  this  practice  before  mar- 
riage, every  indication  is  against  it  afterward.  Cosmetics  on  the  face 
are  not  a  bait  for  kisses.  Their  efiect  is,  besides,  to  injure  the  skin, 
and  consequently  to  diminish  its  natural  attractiveness. 

Good  cookery,  good  housekeeping,  good  dressing,  these  are  the 
means  to  an  end — ^The  Happy  Home.  Sometimes  one  or  more  of 
these  is  allowed  to  so  dominate  a  wife's  life  that  the  means  destroys 
rather  than  makes  the  end. 

She  is  a  housewife  instead  of  her  husband's  wife.  So  other  hob- 
bies, industrial,  social,  or  intellectual,  good  as  means  to  develop  the 
faculties,  to  make  life  successful,  and  to  transmit  superiorities  to 
children,  are  sometimes  so  exaggerated  as  to  destroy  home  happiness 
and  to  destroy  the  true  end  of  every  life — perpetuation  in  the  child. 
Remember,  then,  the  end  while  using  the  means. 

The  general  policy  of  a  wife  in  regard  to  her  husband's  business 
should  be  helpful,  interested,  and  sympathetic.  At  the  same  time 
she  should  be  careful  to  avoid  criticism  or  censure  in  public,  even 
when  just. 

In  the  matter  of  gossip  or  tale-bearing  involving  her  husband  or 
children,  she  should  defend  him  or  them  before  others,  reserving 
advice,  protest,  or  correction  to  a  private  meeting.  As  a  rule,  a  wife 
should  refuse  to  listen  to  gossip  or  scandal  regarding  her  husband. 
The  wife  should  bear  her  husband  children,  the  more  the  better. 
Bvery  true  man  wishes  for  children  of  his  own,  and  is  delighted 
when  they  come,  even  though  he  deny  it,  or  propose  sterility  to  his 


A  Word  to  the  Wife,  233 

wife.  This  is  certain,  a  childless  wife,  as  her  charms  pass  away, 
loses  her  hold  on  her  husband.  The  more  vigorous  the  man,  the 
more  sure  is  the  result.  The  wife  should  remember  that  artificially 
produced  sterility  brings  wrinkles,  loss  of  beauty,  loss  of  health,  and 
premature  old  age. 

The  bearing  of  children  is  the  surest  means  of  preserving  the 
health,  vigor,  and  youth  of  the  wife,  as  well  as  the  respect  and  love 
of  her  husband  when  her  charms  have  faded.  This  being  the 
natural  function  of  woman,  it  must  be  utilized,  otherwise,  like  a 
non-use  of  the  muscles,  the  senses,  or  the  intellect,  a  decay  com- 
mences in  the  part  so  neglected,  only  to  spread  through  the  whole 
organism. 

The  youngest-looking  women  for  their  age  and  the  most  vigorous 
are  those  who  bear  children.  The  woman  of  the  greatest  vigor  in 
advanced  age  I  ever  knew  was  a  mother  of  fourteen  living  children. 
She  is  now  eighty-four  years  of  age.  The  most  vigorous  woman 
past  the  menopause  I  have  known  is  a  woman  of  fifty-three,  the 
mother  of  twenty-three  children. 

Any  reputable  physician  will  inform  the  inquirer  as  to  the  almost 
universal  invalidism  prevalent  amongst  American  single  women 
after  the  age  of  twenty-eight.  Two  physicians  in  I^os  Angeles,  who 
are  enjoying  a  large,  if  not  the  largest,  practice  in  that  city  and 
county,  tell  me  that  the  proportion  of  single  women  amongst  native 
Americans,  who  have  trouble  after  twenty-five  with  their  reproduc- 
tive organs,  is  fully  nine  tenths,  or  ninety  out  of  every  hundred.  (A 
specialist  is  liable  to  overestimate  all  figures  in  his  specialty ;  we 
must  then  put  a  grain  of  salt  into  these  estimates.) 

Amongst  married  women  who  prevent  childbirth  by  abortion  or 
other  means,  disease,  physical  or  moral,  and  a  life  of  bodily  or  mental 
suffering  is  the  sure  consequence. 

The  first  effect  of  uterine  diseases  is  upon  the  vigor  and  happiness 
of  the  woman,  and  the  second,  through  incapacity  on  her  part  to  ful- 
fil the  duties  of  wife,  to  disgust,  and  consequently  to  alienate,  the 
husband,  and  to  tempt  him  to  infidelity. 

No  woman  who  is  unwilling  to  bear  children  should  ever  marry. 
Nature  has  nothing  but  punishment  for  those  who  violate  her  laws. 
The  wife  should  make  it  a  rule  not  to  throw  the  care  of  a  baby  or  of 
children  upon  the  husband,  especially  at  night.  His  work  is  outside  ; 
for  this  his  temperament  is  suited.  If  he  performs  this  part  of  the 
contract,  an  additional  performance  of  the  wife's  duties  is  likely  to 
injure  his  health.  If  he  does  not  perform  his  proper  duties,  there  is 
nothing  so  likely  to  keep  up  the  weakness  as  a  continued  diversion 
of  his  energies  to  the  wife's  field  of  action. 


234  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

The  wife  should  be  careful  of  her  mental  and  bodily  health.  She 
can  best  do  this  by  useful  occupation. 

The  home  should  be  made  and  kept  attractive,  so  that  the  hus- 
band will  find  no  place  pleasanter  and  no  welcome  warmer  than  at 
his  own  home.  A  man  a-courting  is  one  thing,  and  a  man  a  hus- 
band is  quite  another.  In  the  first  case  the  man  is  pre-eminently 
the  one  who  seeks  to  please ;  in  the  second  case  this  is  the  pre- 
eminent business  of  the  wife. 

A  bride  should  expect  to  find  shortly  after  marriage  a  great  dif- 
ference between  her  lover  as  a  husband  and  her  lover  as  a  beau. 
He  enters  with  marriage  the  serious  business  of  life,  and  must  give 
time  and  attention  to  his  work.  Too  often,  indeed,  husbands  devote 
their  whole  energy  to  the  outside  fight  to  the  neglect  of  the  home, 
but  a  husband  can  be  a  true  lover  without  continuing  the  customs  of 
courting.  In  fact,  such  a  continuation  in  its  full  vigor  would  prac- 
tically push  all  other  activities  to  one  side.  Moses  contemplated  this 
when  he  commanded  the  newly  married  man  to  leave  all  business 
and  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  bride  for  one  year. 

A  wife  may  have  great  power  over  her  husband  ;  when  such  is 
the  case,  she  should  never  show  it  in  public,  nor  thrust  the  fact  upon 
the  husband.  In  other  words,  don't  rule  your  husband,  and  if  you 
do  rule  him,  don't  let  any  one  know  it,  not  even  the  husband. 

Every  undertaking,  partnership,  or  combination  that  has  to  sub- 
mit to  competition  must  have  an  executive  head  to  be  successful.  A 
number  of  young  women  in  our  day  reflect  the  tendency  of  the  times 
toward  individualism  at  the  expense  of  family  unity,  by  a  revolt 
against  the  headship  of  the  husband  in  marriage.  The  protest  of 
women  against  even  the  word  obedience,  still  contained  in  the  mar- 
riage service  of  the  churches,  is  very  often  heard.  By  such  persons 
marriage  is  made  a  dissolvable  compact  without  a  head.  The  family, 
like  any  other  combination,  to  be  successful,  must  have  a  head. 
There  can  be  no  head  unless  there  is  final  jurisdiction  in  some  one. 
What  would  be  thought  of  the  prospects  of  an  army  whose  captains 
maintained  independence  against  their  colonels,  their  colonels  against 
their  generals,  and  their  generals  against  their  commander-in-chief? 
The  army  is  a  plain  illustration,  but  may  be  considered  to  be  in- 
applicable to  civil  life.  I,et  us  then  look  at  civil  life.  What  would 
we  think  of  a  business  firm's  prospects  where  the  clerks  declared 
independence  against  the  junior  partners,  and  the  junior  partners 
against  the  head  of  the  house  ?  So  in  the  family,  if  the  children  do 
not  recognize  the  mother  as  an  adviser  to  be  heeded  and  obeyed, 
and  the  wife  does  not  recognize  the  husband  as  chief,  there  can  be 
no  unity  or  cohesion  in  the  family.     Such  a  family  can  have  no 


A   Word  to  the  Wife.  235 

executive  capacity  as  a  family,  no  force  and  no  influence.  What 
would  be  said  of  clerks,  partners,  or  officers  who  refused  to  recognize 
a  chief  on  the  ground  that  such  a  recognition  was  a  disgraceful 
confession  of  a  non-existing  inferiority  ? 

The  presence  of  a  chief  is  necessary  in  every  undertaking.  With- 
out such  there  cannot  be  unity  in  direction  of  force.  A  wife  who 
will  not  agree  to  a  head  and  chief  of  the  family  sets  up  a  doctrine  of 
revolutionary  anarchy  that  must  permeate  and  weaken  the  family 
throughout.  Her  control  over  her  children  and  servants  is  over- 
thrown by  her  own  doctrine  ;  if  she  will  not  have  a  chief,  why,  indeed, 
should  they  ?  The  acceptance  of  the  husband  by  the  wife  in  mar- 
riage should  be  like  the  acceptance  of  a  commission  in  the  army.  It 
should  involve  obedience  to  the  chief.  As  a  bad  general  is  better 
than  no  general  in  an  army,  so  a  bad  or  inferior  chief  is  better  than 
no  chief  in  a  family.  The  exceptions  that  may  be  thought  of  as 
applying  to  one  apply  equally  to  the  other.  In  either  case  ' '  no 
chief"  is  a  condition  of  radical  defect  and  weakness.  In  the  army 
it  is  injurious  to  its  members  and  its  cause.  In  the  family  it  is 
ityurious  to  its  members  and  to  its  future. 

Never  tell  your  husband  that  he  does  not  love  you,  or  that  he  no 
longer  loves  you,  etc.  Such  talk  tends  to  tiresome  repetition,  and 
may  suggest  doubts  in  the  husband's  mind  on  the  point  you  desire 
assured.  The  maxim  may  be  laid  down  that  it  is  unwise  to  suggest 
an  idea  which  you  do  not  wish  carried  out. 

Avoid  having  animals,  birds,  etc.,  as  house  pets.  Numbers  of 
persons  are  frightened  or  bitten  or  injured  by  such  pets  every  year. 
The  most  prominent  recent  case  of  this  kind  is  that  of  the  Princess  de 
Sagan,  who  was  bitten  by  her  monkey  diseased  with  hydrophobia. 
Animals  carry  and  disseminate  disease.  Some  diseases  come  to  man 
from  them,  such  as  hydrophobia,  anthrax,  tetanus,  etc.  Animals 
are  short-lived  and  a  favorite  must  soon  give  pain  by  its  useless  age 
or  early  death. 

Such  pets  usually  annoy  friends,  often  exasperate  the  husband, 
and  must  always  divert  duty  from  him  and  distract  the  attention 
from  the  true  household  pet,  the  child,  and  prevent  its  production  or 
its  due  care,  if  happily  born.  Animal  pets  are  the  resource  of  the 
childless,  and  sometimes  may  cause  persons  to  be  satisfied  with 
sterility  who  otherwise  would  have  married,  or  if  married,  have  had 
children.     They  have  no  proper  life  in  a  true  home. 

Never  nag  or  scold  your  husband ;  it  is  a  risky  business,  and 
eventually  makes  the  life  of  the  wife  nearly  as  unpleasant  as  that  of 
the  husband.  The  efforts  devoted  to  recrimination  are  not  remunera- 
tive.    If  the  husband  behaves  badly,  use  your  efforts  and  ingenuity 


236  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

to  bring  him  to  a  right  course.  Scolding  at  one  extreme  and 
maudhng  caresses  at  the  other  are  not  good  strategy. 

In  such  unfortunate  cases,  love  and  patience  judiciously  handled 
are  the  best  remedies.  Well  cooked  food,  an  economically  and  well 
ordered  household,  a  neat  and  becomingly  dressed  wife,  true  to  her 
vow,  together  with  children,  make  the  home  a  place  that  has  no 
equal  for  any  normally  constituted  man.  There  is  no  fear  that  the 
club  will  draw  any  man  except  a  fool  from  such  a  home. 

By  neat  and  becoming  dress,  it  is  not  meant  that  a  wife  should 
wear  a  ball  dress  in  the  kitchen ;  on  the  contrary,  the  dress  should 
be  suited  to  the  occupation,  but  no  sensible  wife  will  ever  appear 
before  her  husband  in  unclean  clothes,  in  curl  papers,  or  go  slipshod 
and  slovenly  in  the  house.  It  would  be  better  for  a  wife  to  thus 
destroy  her  womanly  attractions  in  public  streets  amongst  strangers 
than  in  the  home  and  before  her  husband. 

The  love  which  induces  a  man  to  marry  a  woman  is  born  of  and 
based  upon  the  reproductive  instinct,  which  is  expressed  in  sexual 
desire.  A  wife  should  never  lose  sight  of  this  fact,  and  should 
always  keep  herself  neat  in  dress  and  in  person.  Nothing  in  the 
home  is  more  attractive  than  a  clean,  simple  dress  upon  a  pretty 
woman  engaged  in  household  work. 

The  woman  at  the  ball  with  silks  and  laces,  corsets  and  cosmetics, 
decked  in  jewels  is  often  a  work  of  art  beautiful  to  look  at,  indeed 
at  times  even  magnificent.  Amongst  all  the  women  I  have  seen 
thus  splendidly  arrayed  in  the  court  balls  of  Europe  and  the  parties 
of  America,  I  can  say  that  those  most  simply  dressed  pleased  me  the 
best.  But  none  of  them  ever  had  for  me'  the  same  peculiar  warm 
attraction  that  the  maid  at  or  fresh  from  household  duties  in  her 
appropriate  garb  has  had.  My  taste  in  these  matters  is  probably  more 
the  rule  than  the  exception.  At  least  judging  others  by  myself,  I 
can  advise  the  wife  that  household  duties  and  a  neat  and  natty  garb 
are  attractions  to  the  husband  irrespective  of  the  addition  such  duties 
well  performed  make  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  home. 

A  woman  who  has  accomplishments  should  by  no  means  neglect 
these  after  marriage.  Music,  painting,  etc.,  are  both  a  pastime  and 
an  occupation  for  a  wife.  Besides  these  considerations,  accomplish- 
ments tend  to  enlarge  the  mental  horizon  of  the  woman  and  benefit 
the  children,  not  only  as  they  grow  up,  but  while  still  in  utero 
before  birth. 

A  wife  should  be  advised  against  giving  up  any  accomplishments 
she  may  have  because  after  marriage,  say  by  the  third  year,  she  will 
find  that  the  happiness  of  the  family  depends  upon  them  to  a  very 
slight  extent. 


A    Word  to  the  Wife,  237 

The  attraction  of  the  wife  to  the  husband  is,  it  is  true,  after 
marriage  very  little  affected  by  accomplishments  directly.  Indirectly, 
however,  they  have  a  considerable  influence.  While  accomplish- 
ments should  not  be  neglected,  they  should  never  be  allowed  to 
interfere  with  the  home  duties  of  first  importance,  or  that  care  of  the 
health  and  person  essential  to  happy  married  life. 

The  care  of  the  children  in  the  family  is  an  important  element 
in  the  relations  of  husband  and  wife.  Upon  the  mother  through  the 
decrees  of  nature  the  principal  part  of  this  duty  devolves.  Well 
mannered  and  useful  children,  healthy  in  body  and  mind,  form  an 
essential  feature  in  every  happy  family.  With  such  children  the 
continued  life  of  the  father  and  mother  has  a  bright  future.  They 
can  with  good  reason  hope  to  perform  better  deeds  in  their  children 
than  they  themselves  could  do  alone.  A  future  of  promise  is  a 
happiness  actual  though  in  anticipation. 

A  wife  should  therefore  give  much  attention  to  the  forming  and 
rearing  of  her  children.  Their  proper  care  does  not  involve  cod- 
dling them  or  so  fencing  them  about  as  to  prevent  a  due  develop- 
ment of  character  and  individuality.  The  proper  course  is  to  lead 
them  to  perceive  for  themselves  the  dangerous  path  to  be  avoided 
and  the  good  path  to  be  followed. 

With  children  it  is  as  much  a  science  and  about  as  important  to 
know  how  and  when  to  let  them  alone,  as  it  is  to  know  what  to  do 
and  when  to  do  it. 

The  wife  should  always  suckle  her  children,  because  this  function 
aborted  means  always  a  slow  return  of  the  reproductive  organs  to 
the  normal  condition  and  generally  a  tedious  recovery  from  child- 
birth, together  with  danger  that  disease  may  supervene  especially  of 
the  mammary  glands.  The  suppression  of  the  activity  of  the  mam- 
mary glands  also  induces  a  premature  return  of  the  menses  with 
probable  conception  before  the  constitution  of  the  woman  is  in  the 
best  condition  for  it.     Nature  should  therefore  be  followed. 

Jealousy  is  an  instinct  in  the  males  of  the  higher  vertebrates. 
Birds  mate,  and  the  male  drives  away  other  male  birds.  The  cock 
protects  his  favorite  hens  and  attacks  intruders.  The  tomcat  will 
not  endure  a  rival  in  reproductive  matters.  The  bull  will  fight  a 
bull  intruding  amongst  his  wives ;  his  own  son  will  be  gored  as 
promptly  as  any  other  bull.  The  stallion  and  the  stag  possess  the 
same  instinct  to  secure  the  paternity  of  their  offspring,  and  to  protect 
their  females  from  being  basely  impregnated  by  inferior  animals. 
The  females  amongst  these  animals  seem  to  have  no  development  of 
the  instinct  of  jealousy.  Its  development  among  women  is  an 
exception  to  the  rule  prevalent  in  the  animal  kingdom  in  this  respect. 


238  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

Marriage  with  mankind  is  a  formal  recognition  of  the  necessity 
of  the  instinct  of  jealousy  in  reproduction.  The  proper  carrying  out 
of  the  wedding  vow  does  away  with  the  usefulness  of  the  animal 
manifestations  of  a  demand  for  purity  on  the  part  of  the  mother  by 
the  father. 

The  laws  of  marriage  are  intended  to  do  awaj^  with  the  necessity 
of  personal  violence  to  protect  the  purity  of  the  breed  and  to  secure 
the  paternity  of  children.  In  this  regard,  law  written  and  unwritten 
and  the  machinery  of  society  play  the  same  beneficent  part  that  laws 
for  the  protection  of  property  have  done  in  securing  a  peaceful  enjoy- 
ment to  each  person  of  the  results  of  their  labor,  thus  doing  away 
with  the  primitive  necessity  of  violence  for  this  purpose.  It  is  true 
that  both  the  law  of  property  and  of  marriage  are  imperfect  and  full 
of  error.  Their  objects,  however,  are  just.  Nature  demands  and 
the  law  recognizes  that  a  man  shordd  not  live  with  or  breed  to  an 
unfaithful  wife.  A  wife  should  therefore  excuse  even  abnormal 
jealousy  in  the  husband  as  a  too  large  development  of  a  useful  and 
widespread  instinct  that  serves  to  supplement  the  still  imperfect 
law. 

The  security  of  the  paternity  of  children  necessitates  a  faithful 
wife,  but  does  not  necessitate  a  faithful  husband.  Infidelitj^  of  the 
wife  is  fatal  to  the  family.  Infidelity  of  the  husband  is  not  neces- 
sarily so.  Therefore  a  wife  is  not  wise  in  leaving  a  husband  whom 
she  discovers  to  be  sexually  untrue.  A  revolt  against  the  continu- 
ance of  such  acts  is  sometimes  good,  but  the  best  policy  is  for  the 
wife  to  look  to  the  improvement  of  the  home,  to  add  comfort  to  it, 
and,  above  all,  to  improve  her  own  manners  and  to  be  attentive  to 
her  personal  appearance.  She  must  make  her  home  and  herself 
attractive.  The  normal  man,  with  a  healthy  wife  and  a  well- 
regulated  home  is  but  little  tempted  to  leave  it  for  stolen  sexual 
indulgence. 

Jealousy  in  man  is  of  greatly  more  importance  to  the  welfare  of 
the  race  than  in  woman,  but  it  has  good  cause  in  women  also. 
Amongst  animals  the  females  have  little  or  no  manifestations  of  this 
instinct.  But  the  conditions  are  different  in  the  essentials  of  repro- 
duction with  mankind. 

Our  children  are  helpless  for  a  long  period,  and  therefore  require 
a  protector  and  supporter  during  this  time,  which  ofiice  is  naturally 
the  part  of  the  man,  both  on  account  of  his  strength  and  on  account 
of  the  absorption  of  the  mother's  energy  and  time  in  the  care  of  the 
helpless  young. 

Venereal  diseases  are  the  exclusive  property  of  humanity.  The 
effects  of  these  diseases,  especially  of  syphilis,  are  terrible,  and  en- 


A  Word  to  the  Wife,  239 

dure  from  one  generation  to  another ;  consequently,  promiscuous 
intercourse  on  the  part  of  the  man  renders  him  liable  to  infection, 
which  it  must  be  expected  will  equally  disease  and  ruin  his  wife. 
But,  worse  than  this,  the  child  of  such  a  parent  must  carry  the  curse, 
and  the  father  and  mother  thus  suffer  in  the  child,  and,  through  the 
debilitated  constitution  of  the  progeny,  extermination  stares  them  in 
the  face. 

Thus  jealousy  in  woman  is  shown  to  have  a  foundation  in  these 
two  reasons,  if  in  no  others.  A  wife,  however,  should  bear  in  mind 
the  radical  difference  to  the  family  of  the  husband  or  wife's  infidelity. 
In  the  first  case  it  is  a  venial  offence,  unless  disease  be  contracted  or 
the  support  of  the  family  endangered. 

No  imcertainty  as  to  the  children  of  the  wife  is  possible,  and  no 
stamp  or  life  from  an  outside  source  is  introduced  as  a  burden  to  the 
family.  With  the  wife  infidelity  is  ruin  to  the  family.  The  husband 
no  longer  feels  certain  that  the  children  born  are  his,  and  the  wife  be- 
comes either  sterile  or  may  bear  into  the  family  a  child  of  some  dissolute 
man,  not  the  husband,  and  carry  through  life  the  stamp  of  such 
inferior  man  to  plague  the  fool-husband  in  children  subsequently 
bom  to  him. 

A  faithless  woman  is  also  liable  to  neglect  her  children,  if  she 
have  any,  and  to  bring  venereal  disease  into  the  family.  Therefore, 
a  dissolute  man  is  bad,  but  a  dissolute  woman  is  intolerable. 

A  wife  should  never  have  a  secret  from  her  husband.  Dickens 
wrote  a  story,  called  The  Cricket  on  the  Hearth,  that  incidentally 
shows  how  dangerous  even  a  good  scheme  may  become  to  a  family 
by  making  a  secret  of  it.  Husband  and  wife  are  too  near  for  one  to 
have  a  secret  from  the  other.  Where  secrets  exist,  acts  will  be  mis- 
understood, letters  and  words  misconstrued,  love  wear  the  livery  of 
jealousy,  and  happiness  be  kicked  out  of  the  home. 

The  wise  wife  will  show  an  interest  in  her  husband's  occupations 
and  ambitions,  for  by  such  a  course  she  will  secure  his  confidences 
and  live  his  life,  thus  securing  a  powerful  hold  upon  him,  second 
only  to  that  given  by  a  fine  child. 

As  a  wife  should  not  be  down  at  the  heel  in  her  personal  appear- 
ance, nor  in  her  housekeeping,  neither  should  she  allow  herself  to  be 
down  at  the  heel  intellectually.  She  should  read,  think,  and  keep 
herself  informed  in  the  world's  movements.  This  is  advisable  for 
two  reasons  :  first,  on  account  of  her  children  ;  and  second,  to  make 
herself  companionable  mentally  to  her  husband.  Without  some 
activity  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the  mother,  the  mind  from  disuse  will 
inevitably  grow  weaker,  and  consequently  the  children  born  will  in- 
herit the  diminished  mind  power  of  the  mother.  The  mother's 
influence  to  improve  the  children  will  also  be  impaired. 


240  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

As  the  children  are  the  mainhold  the  wife  has  on  her  husband,  it 
should  be  ever  her  object  not  only  to  have  children,  but  to  have 
better  and  more  forceful  children  than  her  own  parents  had  in  her, 
and  thus  to  make  her  husband  glory  in  the  renewed  life  she  has 
given  him  and  herself  in  the  fruits  of  the  marriage. 

While  a  wife  should  on  no  account  allow  society  to  interfere  with 
her  home  duties  she  should  not  altogether  neglect  it.  A  healthy 
society  has  a  code  of  unwritten  laws  that  does  much  to  benefit 
humanity.  Intercourse  of  a  social  kind  with  one's  fellows  broadens 
the  view  and  causes  us  to  keep  our  dress,  manners,  and  wits  in  tidy 
and  presentable  form. 

Balls  and  dances  are  some  of  the  means  used  in  society  to  bring 
people  together.  These  forms  are  the  least  suited  to  the  wife.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  society  balls  are  most  useful  as  matri- 
monial bazaars,  where  young  people  of  opposite  sexes  may  meet  and 
become  acquainted. 

The  low-necked  dress  of  the  young  lady  enables  the  young  man 
ready  for  a  wife  to  judge  somewhat  as  to  her  physical  qualifications 
and  suitability,  and  is  in  the  same  useful  line  as  the  bathing  costumes 
worn  in  the  water  by  women  at  seaside  resorts.  A  wife,  however, 
has  no  reason  to  display  her  charms  even  well  within  conventional 
usage  to  the  world.     In  this  connection  a  French  saying  is  apropos  : 

*'  La  femme  est  comme  une  arm^e  :  elle  est  perdue  si  elle  n'a  pas  de  reserve." 

This  saying  is  commended  to  the  wife  who  would  guard  the 
respect  of  society  and  the  confidence  of  her  husband. 

Society  balls  are  for  the  unmarried  of  both  sexes,  and  the  place 
of  the  married  in  these  is  merely  a  service  of  pilotage,  or  as  lookers 
on.  A  married  woman  who  flirts  at  all  is  a  fool ;  one  who  flirts  at 
such  balls  is  a  thief  as  well,  for  she  steals  the  chances  of  her  single 
sisters. 

The  first  duty  of  the  wife  is  to  preserve  her  faith  to  her  husband 
and  secure  him  in  the  paternity  of  her  children  born  to  the  marriage, 
and  the  second  to  strengthen  and  build  up  her  own  and  her  hus- 
band's better  qualities  so  that  these  may  be  more  prominent  in  the 
children.  As  the  wife  is  the  better  part  of  the  husband,  so  also  the 
husband  is  the  better  part  of  the  wife.  That  wife  is  truest  to  herself 
who  is  truest  to  her  husband.  Her  treatment  of  her  husband  is  a 
treatment  to  herself. 

The  wife,  like  the  husband,  has  every  reason  to  devote  her  best 
efforts  of  all  kinds  to  the  home.  The  home  contains  for  her  the  only 
true  happiness,  the  only  true  greatness,  and  within  its  mystic  circle 
lies  hidden  in  the  child — her  future. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
RElylGION. 

IT  is  impossible  to  conceive  God.  It  is  equally  difficult  to  imagine 
the  universe  without  a  First  Cause.  The  mass  of  mankind  have 
found  the  lesser  difficulty  to  be  the  doctrine  of  a  Supreme 
Omnipotent  Being.  Man  calls  this  Being  God.  Those  who  think, 
must  think  of  God  with  awe.  Man  cannot  conceive  with  his  weak 
senses  what  God  is,  nor  why  the  laws  of  nature,  which  are  His,  are 
what  they  are.  The  thinker  merely  feels  able  to  recognize  some  of 
these  laws.  They  cannot  be  broken  without  paying  the  penalty. 
Therefore  man,  if  he  lives,  if  he  lives  in  perpetuity  through  repro- 
duction, must  observe  them. 

It  has  been  inconceivable  to  man  in  general  that  the  continued 
development  of  the  world  from  chaos  to  the  appearance  of  organic 
life  and  the  development  of  this  through  ages  of  progress  to  the  pos- 
session by  matter,  in  man,  of  intelligent  thought,  reason,  and  action, 
is  for  nought.  It  cannot  be  believed  that  all  this  is  to  end  in  death. 
The  progress  must  go  on.  Every  presumption  from  the  history  of 
the  globe,  of  life,  of  man,  points  to  further  development.  If  we 
believe  in  evolution,  the  reality  of  the  progress  from  the  i&rst  prim- 
itive life  to  reasoning  man  is  not  more  wonderful  than  the  belief  that 
life  by  man  will  reach  immortality,  the  power  of  self-continuance 
without  individual  death. 

How  this  is  to  be  reached,  no  one  knows.  The  most  probable 
way  seems  to  be  along  the  same  lines  that  the  progress  of  life  has 
already  followed.  If  this  be  correct,  we  have  but  one  means  of 
reaching  immortality — by  our  children  and  by  their  children  to  the 
perfect  race.  Thus  will  our  spark  of  life  bum  on.  The  father  dies, 
but  does  not  die.  His  likeness,  his  life,  is  still  marching  on  in  his 
child  to  the  grand  future  of  perfection  ;  and  so  also  of  the  mother. 

Every  form  of  religion  framed  by  man  has  had  for  its  object  the 
good  of  mankind.  The  general  plan  has  been  to  secure  material 
results  in  this  world  by  the  promise  of  penalties  or  rewards  in  an- 
other. Owing  to  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  of  the  people  in  the 
past,  still  existing  to  this  day,  but  which  all  thinkers  hope  to  see 
cured,  doctrines  for  the  good  of  man  were  not  receivable  on  reason 

i6  241 


242  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

alone.  Information  and  proof  were  generally  lacking  to  support 
doctrines  demanding  self-denial,  and  where  proof  existed  it  was  not 
communicable  to  the  people  ;  therefore,  the  early  leaders  of  mankind 
invoked  supernatural  authority  for  their  creeds,  forms,  and  laws. 
The  credulity  of  ignorance,  the  tendency  of  primitive  man  to  attrib- 
ute the  phenomena  of  nature  to  anthropomorphic  forces,  and  the 
early  belief  in  spirits  arising  probably  from  dreams,  etc. ,  made  the 
claim  of  supernatural  authority  for  wise  laws  one  easily  imposed  on 
the  masses.  Doubtless  mankind  has  benefited  by  religious  forms. 
But  as  man  has  advanced  in  brain  power  it  has  become  more  diffi- 
cult to  control  him  in  this  way. 

First  he  loses  faith  in  the  communion  with  God  of  men  in  his 
own  generation,  gradually  working  to  complete  negation  of  such 
direct  advice  and  counsel  by  God  to  men  about  him. 

He  comes,  secondly,  to  lose  faith  in  such  things  ever  having 
occurred. 

It  is  to  this  second  stage  that  civilized  man  has  again  arrived  as 
he  has  so  often  before.  Our  laws  in  this  country  are  at  present  all 
mundane  and  supposed  to  be  based  on  reason  and  use.  The  canons 
of  the  Church  do  not  afiect  us  materially  and  seem  to  me  to  be  losing 
their  hold  daily.  Our  code  of  morality  and  unwritten  law,  being 
based  originally  on  this  sinking  foundation,  is  now  sinking  with  it.  I 
do  not  mean  that  what  is  known  as  crime  is  more  rife  than  formerly,  but 
that  character  and  morality  are  less  vigorous  to-day  than  they  were  a 
few  decades  ago  ;  as  there  is  less  belief,  so  there  is  less  earnestness  in 
life.  This  idea  may  be  a  mistake,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  young 
people  lack  purpose  and  high  aims  and  shirk  work  and  responsibility 
more  than  formerly,  and  are  more  guided  in  their  social  relations  by 
the  written  law  than  by  their  honor. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  religious  forms  of  our  day  are  losing  their 
capacity  to  hold  the  faith  of  the  people  in  their  supernatural  author- 
ity, then  the  whole  structure  of  the  moral  code  they  have  raised  is 
undermined  and  may  fall.  The  breaking  down  in  the  past  of  reli- 
gious forms  through  incredulity  in  their  divine  origin,  as  in  Greece  and 
Rome,  was  followed  by  corruption  and  crime.  It  may  be  that  simi- 
lar dark  ages  will  overtake  us.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the 
world  is  ready  for  a  religion  founded  on  the  reason  alone ;  at  any 
rate  all  attempts  at  foimding  such  a  religion  have  hitherto  failed. 
Men  are  not  governed  by  reason.  The  masses  never  have  been. 
What  governs  and  has  governed  humanity  is  more  or  less  a  combi- 
nation of  the  following  : 

Force  of  leaders  who  impose  their  interests  on  the  masses,  self- 
interest,  passion,   prejudice,    sentiment,  superstition,  anything   but 


Religion,  243 

reason.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  race  receiving  wisdom  by  reason 
alone.  It  may  be,  but  it  has  not  been.  It  is  not  wise,  therefore,  to 
attack  the  prevailing  forms  of  religion  nor  the  authority  on  which 
they  are  based. 

The  present  religions  of  America  are  of  two  kinds  :  those  that 
are  receptive  and  capable  of  change,  and  those  that  are  not.  The 
value  of  these  religions  is  great,  especially  those  of  the  first  class. 
Through  religion  capable  of  change  without  ruin  we  may,  indeed, 
hope  to  see  adaptations  maintaining  the  religious  feeling  in  man  in 
harmony  with  his  advancing  science. 

The  origin  of  the  religious  idea  in  man  has  been  clearly  and  clev- 
erly traced  by  a  number  of  scientific  men,  best  perhaps  by  Tylor  and 
Spencer. 

Amongst  the  most  primitive  men  there  is  practically  no  more  re- 
ligion than  we  find  amongst  the  higher  animals.  With  the  evolu- 
tion of  man  socially  we  find  also  an  evolution  of  religion.  Step  by 
step  this  evolution  has  been  traced  to  our  present  position. 

The  strange  ^nd,  to  the  ignorant  man,  inexplicable  metamor- 
phoses in  nature,  such  as  the  formation  and  disappearance  of 
clouds,  the  wonderful  changes  in  the  life  of  insects,  at  one  time 
crawling  worms,  at  another  beautiful  flying  creatures, — these  and 
other  phenomena  of  nature,  storms,  whirlwinds,  earthquakes,  tides, 
floods,  etc.,  are  by  savages  looked  upon  as  a  confirmation  of  the  dual 
life  of  things.  The  shadow  of  the  cloud,  of  the  animal,  and  of  the 
man,  the  echo  that  answers,  and  the  dream  that  transports  one  to 
distant  places  or  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  dead,  doubtless 
originates  this  belief  in  a  spiritual  life  separate  from  the  corporeal. 

The  starved  like  the  glutted  savage  tends  in  sleep  to  dreams. 
The  psychologic  knowledge  of  the  savage  is  incapable  of  explaining 
a  dream  upon  true  grounds.  To  him  the  only  rational  view  is  that 
there  is  another  self  which  may  leave  his  body  and  go  to  distant 
places  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning  while  the  body  does  not  move. 
The  apparitions  of  those  dead  must  be  to  him  the  spirits  or  shadows . 
of  such  and  give  the  basis  of  belief  in  a  future  life.  From  nothing, 
we  can  study  in  such  a  book  as  Spencer's  Sociology  man  gradually 
progressing  to  the  most  abstract  religious  conceptions. 

The  first  dawn  of  religion  is  in  an  indefinite  dread  of  the  dead  on 
account  of  the  supposed  possibility  of  their  return.  The  first  church 
where  a  sacrifice  or  service  is  held  is  the  burial-place.  The  origin  of 
the  sacrifice  is  clearly  the  desire  of  the  living  to  give,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  the  spirit  of  the  dead  the  weapons  and  food  necessary  for 
the  journey  of  life  it  is  supposed  to  take  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
propitiate  the  shade  that  rpight  otherwise  be  malignant.     Amongst 


244  '^^^   Conquest  of  Death, 

tribes  that  have  migrated  the  general  belief  is  that  the  dead  will  in 
spirit  return  to  the  old  home  which  by  lapse  of  time  has  also  been 
spiritualized. 

If  the  migration  was  down  a  river,  or  across  a  river  or  a  sea,  so 
the  spirit  journey  wnll  be  supposed  to  take  a  return  course  requiring 
boats,  ferrymen,  etc.  One  dark  river  to  cross  is  a  common  belief, 
continuing  from  the  savage  who  buries  or  burns  his  dead  in  a  canoe, 
or  bums  a  mock  one  for  his  dead  kinsman's  spirit  to  use,  to  the 
Ferryman  Charon  and  our  own  Christian  doctrine.  If  the  migration 
has  been  by  land,  and  crossing  water  has  not  been  a  prominent 
feature,  then  we  find  the  sacrifice  of  the  horse  or  beast  of  burden  to 
facilitate  the  return  journey  of  the  spirit.  These  beliefs  in  a  future 
life,  at  first  indefinite  and  ill- defined,  then  limited  to  immediate 
ancestors,  at  last  include  all  ancestors.  Great  chiefs,  warriors,  or 
benefactors  are  longer  remembered,  more  dreamed  of,  more  invoked, 
and  tend  to  an  attributed  ascendancy  in  the  spirit  world  similar  or 
greater  than  they  had  in  this  world. 

The  dreamer  or  enthusiast  may  at  first  esteem  that  he  has  had 
real  interviews  with  such  leading  spirits,  but  the  utility  of  spirit 
sanction  in  controlling  men  will  soon  lead  to  claims  of  supernatural 
authorship  of  various  laws  and  rules  deemed  useful  by  living  leaders. 
Deification  of  one  dead  leader  will  lead  to  the  deification  of  others  ; 
so  may  arise  the  conception  of  many  gods,  and  at  last,  with  the 
organization  of  society  under  a  powerful  ruler  w4th  subordinate 
chiefs,  will  inevitably  come  the  idea  of  a  similar  constitution  of  the 
spirit  world.  We  in  our  religions  of  to-day  conceive  a  ruling  God 
with  subordinate  spirits,  saints,  angels,  or  demons.  Only  in  the 
most  advanced  thinkers  can  the  abstract  idea  of  a  single  Supreme 
Being  arise.  Even  in  Christianity  in  its  least  involved  form  we  have 
a  belief  in  a  mysterious  Trinity.  Amongst  the  Catholics  many 
angels  and  saints  are  credited  with  supernatural  influence  in  mundane 
affairs.  To  such,  shrines  are  erected,  pilgrimages  are  undertaken,  and 
gifts  and  offerings  are  made.  According  to  the  opinion  of  this  large 
congregation,  the  Mother  of  God  has  an  extraordinary  influence  in 
averting  storms  or  disaster  and  in  giving  fortune  and  advantage  to 
mankind. 

A  few  small  sects  without  vitality,  as  the  Unitarians,  believe  like 
the  Mahometans  in  one  God.  It  must  be  said  that  this  nominal 
belief  in  one  God  by  the  Mahometans  is  often  accompanied  by  a 
belief  in  the  supernatural  influence  of  various  saints,  spirits,  and 
demons,  and  of  Mahomet  himself. 

The  idea  of  sacred  animals  may  arise  from  the  habit  of  certain 
animals,  as  bats,  owls,  serpents,  etc.,  of  frequenting  tombs,  houses. 


Religion.  245 

or  other  places  where  spirits  are  naturally  supposed  to  be.  A  spirit 
whether  friendly  or  inimical  is  likely  to  seek  the  object  of  its  atten- 
tion ;  so  a  serpent,  which  has  always  an  attraction  to  the  warm  houses 
or  bedding  of  man,  can  easily  have  a  spiritual  life  attributed  to  it  in 
countries  where  the  climate  favors  constructions  accessible  to  them. 

The  association  of  ghosts  with  the  animal  life  found  in  or  about 
tombs,  which  were  originally  so  often  caves,  is  still  shown  in  the 
story  of  vampires  and  in  the  common  description  of  ghosts  as 
squeaking  or  gibbering  as  bats  do.  All  our  religious  forms,  or  at 
least  the  popular  beliefs  accompanying  them,  bear  clear  traces  of  an 
origin  in  ancestor  worship. 

The  family  domicile  became  the  church  after  or  with  the  tomb. 
The  Lares  and  Penates  of  the  Romans  perpetuated  the  early  belief 
from  which  their  more  generalized  religion  had  grown.  The  Chinese 
have  never  progressed  much  beyond  ancestor  worship  pure  and 
simple.  The  one  idea  of  a  Chinaman  is  to  marry,  to  have  a  son. 
Everything  must  bend  to  having  a  son,  because  without  a  son  the 
proper  sacrifices  cannot  be  made  on  a  man's  tomb  at  death,  and  the 
spirit  wanders  aimlessly  in  endless  torture.  This  belief  has  doubtless 
been  the  cause  of  the  perpetuation  of  the  Chinese  race  and  stamp 
through  every  mutation  of  time.  To  be  happy  in  the  indefinitely 
living  spirit,  reproduction  is  absolutely  essential.  So  the  most  earnest 
Chinese  have  reproduced,  and  the  clearly  recognizable  race  is  still 
here.  The  defect  in  their  system  is  that  the  individual  independence 
going  with  intellectual  progress  must  eventually  overthrow  the 
foundation  of  their  system.  Investigation  and  reflection  must  with 
progress  destroy  the  unprovable  belief  that  the  spirit  of  an  ancestor 
depends  in  an  individual  separate  existence  upon  the  sacrifices  of  a 
descendant.  This  overthrown,  the  whole  system  must  fall  with  it. 
This  Chinese  doctrine  is  far  indeed  from  my  idea  of  an  actual  im- 
mortality had  by  the  parent  in  the  child,  but  there  is  a  suggestion  of 
similarity. 

So  the  receivers  of  my  view  may  gain  confidence  in  observing 
the  wonderful  persistency  of  the  Chinese  race  against  decay  and 
extermination,  although  so  long  in  a  stationary  or  reactionary 
condition. 

Other  animal  worship  may  have  arisen  through  the  worship  of 
dead  chiefs  named,  as  is  so  common  with  savages,  after  animals,  and 
the  imperfection  of  all  savage  languages  in  expressing  the  difference 
between  an  animal  and  a  man  named  after  an  animal.  It  is,  how- 
ever, immaterial  how  the  religious  idea  arose,  for  the  general  view 
remains  the  same. 

We  cannot  escape  the  conclusion  that  all  primitive  religions,  from 


246  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

inchoate  dread  of  ghosts  to  definite  ancestor  worship,  and  so  on  to  a 
ruling  God  and  a  pantheon  of  subordinate  spirits,  are  of  purely 
human  origin. 

The  most  extreme  devotee  of  form  in  religion  must  equally 
admit  that  all  modem  developed  religions,  but  one  excepted  (his 
own,  of  course),  have  a  similar  origin. 

It  is  not  conceivable  to  a  reflective  person  with  any  brain  power, 
and  with  the  information  as  to  physical  and  psychological  facts  now 
available,  that  a  Supreme  Creator  would  directly  transmit  or  permit 
to  be  transmitted  to  man,  His  creature,  religious  information  fatal  to 
the  everlasting  welfare  of  his  soul.  It  is  equally  impossible  to  sup- 
pose a  Divine  Creator  of  the  universe  capable  of  leaving  the  vast 
majority  of  humanity  in  every  generation  for  the  long  ages  of  human 
existence  ignorant  of  doctrines  essential  to  their  everlasting  salva- 
tion. We  are  from  the  limitations  of  our  reasons  driven  perforce  to 
attribute  a  mundane  origin  to  all  religions,  excepting,  perhaps,  our 
own,  and,  if  still  clinging  to  special  forms  taught  us  in  childhood,  to 
at  least  admit  so  wide  a  tolerance  for  those  who  differ  with  us  as  to 
leave  the  belief  in  our  own  doctrines  unessential  either  as  to  damna- 
tion or  salvation. 

Tolerance  is  no  twin  brother  to  faith.  Intense  faith  must  be 
accompanied  by  an  equal  force  of  intolerance.  When  a  person  or 
people  believe  that  a  particular  course  or  doctrine  will  lead  to  eternal 
salvation,  or  its  disregard  to  eternal  damnation,  any  mundane  matter 
becomes  of  infinitesimal  importance,  except  as  leading  to  the  ever- 
lasting future.  So  suffering  in  this  world  to  reach  heaven  is  a  splen- 
did investment,  while  joy  here  and  hell  hereafter  is  a  bad  one. 
Equally,  any  suffering  imposed  on  others  to  everlastingly  save  them, 
or  to  prevent  the  spread  of  damning  doctrines,  is,  with  faith, 
thoroughly  justifiable.  Therefore  faith,  in  proportion  to  its  intensity 
and  political  power,  will  persecute  dissent. 

The  universal  tolerance  of  our  age  is  consequently  a  demonstra- 
tion of  the  weakness  of  the  old  religious  forms  and  the  necessity  of 
something  different  to  pervade  the  lives  of  our  children  with  a  reli- 
gious ardor.  The  Christian  religion  more  than  any  other  spiritualizes 
the  unity  of  mankind,  and  inculcates  a  sympathy  that  is  limited  only 
by  the  limits  of  life,  and  takes  in  the  whole  human  race. 

Its  doctrines  are  distinctly  those  forming  the  ideal  toward  which 
the  highest  humanity  tends.  Its  chief  weakness  in  an  incredulous 
and  inquiring  age  lies  in  its  claim  of  supernatural  authority  and 
authorship.  Without  at  all  denying  the  correctness  of  this  claim, 
we  cannot  but  perceive  that  the  prevaiUng  demand  for  demonstration 
in  all  things  is  extremely  exacting  for  it. 


Religion,  247 

It  is  indeed  strange  to  learn  through  well  authenticated  history 
that  this  beautiful  religion,  in  which  love  and  sympathy,  suiFering 
and  resignation,  are  foundation  pillars,  has  by  its  disciples  been  guilty 
of  the  most  cruel  persecutions  often  upon  technical  and  trivial  points, 
has  sanctioned  and  preached  war  for  no  just  reason,  has  praised  and 
encouraged  unsocial  and  unsympathetic  seclusion  in  the  name  of 
religion  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  has  often,  on  the  other 
hand,  sustained  in  good  standing  not  only  its  lay  members  but  even 
its  preachers  and  leaders  while  living  and  practising  notorious  crime 
and  immorality. 

A  perusal  of  the  Gospels  and  then  of  the  theological  dogmas  that 
have  been  declared  by  the  saints  as  essential  to  salvation  must  sur- 
prise a  thoughtful  person.  How  the  one  could  have  come  out  of  the 
other  is  most  curious.  The  confusion  of  contradiction  amongst 
Christians  in  their  catechisms  and  the  practices  of  the  pious  as  pro- 
fessing Christians  are  certainly  inexplicable  as  originating  from 
divine  inspiration.  The  leaders  of  our  Christian  sects,  as  a  rule,  no 
longer  have  a  full  conviction  in  the  truth  of  their  technicalities. 
When  they  had  this,  the  humanity  consigned  to  everlasting  hell  by 
these  pious  persons  would  cast  into  the  shadow  the  doings  of  a  demon. 
In  fact,  no  other  religion  has  painted  so  uncertain,  black,  and  hope- 
less a  picture  of  the  future  as  the  Christian.  Some  sect  always  had 
a  door  open  direct  to  hell  for  the  trembling  votary.  If  the  rules  of 
one  Church  were  followed,  the  very  fact  condemned  the  individual  to 
everlasting  damnation  by  the  rules  of  another.  To  go  forward,  to 
go  backward,  or  to  stand  still  was  alike  damnable  according  to 
some  saint.  Thus  we  can  observe  the  difficulties  and  uncertainties 
of  every  religion  or  rule  of  conduct  derived  from  an  interference  of 
God  Almighty  through  man. 

Some  of  the  prevalent  doctrines  of  Christianity  are  worthy  of  ex- 
amination to  indicate  that  their  votaries  may  mistake  a  true  inter- 
pretation of  the  Gospels.  Let  us  see  what  they  say.  Salvation 
can  only  come  by  faith,  not  by  deeds.  Man  is  incapable  of  self- 
salvation,  and  can  only  hope  for  it  through  the  vicarious  sacrifice 
of  Christ.  Any  amount  of  sin  may  be  obliterated  and  the  soul 
snowed  into  whiteness  by  the  superabundant  virtues  of  another. 
These  votaries  set  up  as  the  ideals  of  life  resignation,  mercy,  and  to 
do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  unto  you ;  resignation 
and  submission  in  peace  to  outrage,  wrong,  oppression,  to  anything, 
even  unto  death  ;  if  smitten  on  one  cheek,  turn  the  other.  These 
votaries  are  probably  wrong  in  taking  the  text  upon  which  these 
views  are  based  too  literally.  These  doctrines  have  not  and  cannot 
be  lived  up  to  in  any  society  that  has  existed  since  the  Crucifixion. 


248  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

As  to  salvation  coming  only  by  faith,  how  shall  faith  be  demon- 
strated except  by  deeds  ?  If  this  be  accepted,  salvation  coming  by 
faith  comes  by  deeds.  In  the  matter  of  obliterating  sin,  the  Old 
Testament  tells  us  what  we  know  in  our  daily  experience  to  be  true 
— that  the  sins  of  the  fathers  shall  be  visited  on  the  children  to  the 
third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  Me.  They  are  not 
washed  away  by  a  profession  of  faith.  The  vicarious  sacrifice,  as 
understood  by  many,  would  make  the  perfect  life  one  of  dreams,  en- 
thusiasm, and  inaction.  It  did  so  in  the  Dark  Ages.  Resignation 
and  meekness  carried  to  extremes  lead  to  nothing.  We  cannot  be 
resigned  to  wrong  without  reaping  ruin  as  a  harvest.  The  brother- 
hood of  man  is  another  idea  completely  misunderstood.  As  it  is 
often  comprehended,  we  might  with  equal  truth  speak  of  the  brother- 
hood of  the  primates,  the  brotherhood  of  mammals,  the  brotherhood 
of  life,  the  brotherhood  of  matter ;  all  true,  but  not  leading  to  the 
conclusions  adduced  by  the  saints  from  the  first.  We  might  also 
allege  the  brotherhood  of  dogs  as  a  reason  for  receiving  the  cur  and 
the  collie  on  an  equal  footing  ;  we  might  assert  the  brotherhood  of 
equines  as  a  reason  for  placing  the  ass  in  the  stable  of  the  thorough- 
bred. 

In  doing  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  unto  you,  who, 
we  may  ask,  would  ever  be  imprisoned,  hung,  or  in  any  way  pun- 
ished? The  rule  is  good  in  a  sensible  interpretation,  but  it  is 
nothing  when  run  into  extremity. 

So  the  professors  of  Christianity  through  mistaken  zeal  have 
rushed  or  been  pushed  into  no  thoroughfares,  into  impossible  im- 
passes where  conduct  conformable  to  conscience  was  ruin,  and  where 
denial  was  damnation. 

Christianity  is  a  religion  of  love.  Its  Gospels  are  full  of  parables 
and  allegories,  and  should  be  interpreted  as  to  what  they  are  and  in 
harmony  with  common  sense.  It  is  a  sufferer  from  the  deformities 
that  have  been  imposed  on  it.  Its  superserviceable  devotees  by  the 
impossible  positions  in  which  they  place  themselves  live  in  contradic- 
tion to  their  professions.  They  set  up  a  standard  that  brings  before 
us  a  set  of  rank  hypocrites.  Good  men  and  true  live  oppressed  in 
their  souls  from  the  recognition  of  the  incompatibility  of  creed  and 
of  human  duty. 

In  the  French  Revolution  the  beautiful  and  useful  doctrines  of 
Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity  were  preached,  received,  and  acted 
on  by  a  whole  nation.  But  men  ran  to  a  wild  extremity.  Their 
excesses  turned  truth  into  a  lie.  Liberty  became  license.  Equality 
pulled  down  the  superior  only  to  make  rulers  of  the  incompetent  or 
cruel.      Fraternity  presided  over  the  guillotine,  the  Noyades,  and 


Religion,  249 

the  massacre  of  the  best  lives  of  France,  including  even  founders  of 
the  Republic,  and  still  worse  of  even  women,  children,  and  babes  at 
the  breast.  Thus  great  and  progressive  doctrines  in  incompetent 
hands  became  the  cause  of  the  worst  reign  of  terror  civilized  man 
has  known. 

Man  cannot  live  by  terror,  and  so  the  reaction  came  with  a 
Napoleon,  as  it  must  have  come  with  some  one.  Thus  we  may  per- 
ceive from  the  inj  ustice  and  cruelty  of  crime  committed  in  the  name 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man  the  danger  of  extreme  and  technical 
interpretation  of  a  great  and  true  doctrine. 

Every  great  leader  of  early  man  has  claimed  a  divine  or  demoniac 
origin  for  his  rules  and  regulations.  In  the  weakness  of  htunan 
reason  this  was  doubtless  necessary  and  may  be  still.  Its  incon- 
venience lies  in  its  contradictions.  Moses  and  Mahomet,  Buddha 
and  Brahma,  Confucius  and  Christ,  cannot  be  reconciled.  How  can 
the  evidence  of  like  miraculous  kind  be  deemed  more  authentic  in 
one  than  in  another?  If  we  deny  the  revelation  of  the  Mormon 
prophet,  Smith ;  if  we  deny  the  passage  of  Mahomet  through  the 
rock  at  the  call  of  God,  a  rock  with  its  manhole  still  visible  to  the 
curious,  how  shall  we  admit  the  inspiration  of  Moses  or  of  any  one  ? 

The  most  curious  circumstance  in  the  consideration  of  this  matter 
is  that  not  a  single,  solitary  sect  known  to  me  lives  to-day  up  to 
the  exact  letter  of  the  revelation  from  God  upon  which  its  rules  are 
foimded.  We  may  dismiss  a  dangerous  discussion  with  the  admis- 
sion that  all  religions,  or  all  but  one,  each  person  excepting  his  own, 
were  founded  by  man,  who,  to  secure  conformity  to  his  plans  by  the 
ignorant  mass,  invoked  the  general  floating  belief  originating  from 
dreams  and  unexplained  phenomena  of  nature  in  a  spiritual  world, 
and  set  up  moral  and  material  laws  said  to  emanate  from  the  Ruler 
of  the  Universe.  Such  laws  -were  in  reality  the  creation  of  a  great 
human  mind  bent  on  improving  his  race,  the  world,  or  of  advancing 
a  personal  ambition.  We  can  thus  understand  how  codes  suited  to 
the  savage,  the  barbarian,  or  the  civilized  man  were  invented  as  the 
race  required  them,  and  further  understand  how  every  code  has  been 
modified  often  beyond  recognition  to  suit  the  growth  of  man  or  the 
change  of  his  circumstances  or  condition. 

Thus  what  is  good  and  advantageous  in  a  savage  state  of  society 
may  be  injurious  in  a  civilized  condition,  and  consequently  as  a 
savage  race  advances  its  moral  code  must  change. 

The  great  leader  hke  Moses  or  Mahomet  invokes  God  or  Devil  to 
sanction  the  innovation  necessary  for  advance,  and  in  this  way 
secures  a  conformity  that  at  least  amongst  primitive  men  could  be 
secured  in  no  other  manner.     The  philosopher  should  consider  the 


250  The  Conquest  of  Death. 

general  use  of  the  invocation  of  supernatural  authority  to  secure 
morality.  The  fact  that  mankind  has  never  continued  sound  with- 
out a  religion  in  form  founded  on  Divine  reward  or  demoniac 
punishment,  and  that  decay  in  religion  has  been  accompanied  here- 
tofore first  by  a  hectic  flush  and  rush  of  intellectual  advance,  followed 
in  every  case  by  social  disease,  decay,  and  death,  should  make  us 
slow  in  attacking  any  religious  forms. 

The  emergence  into  histor>^  of  every  race  has  shown  it  to  be 
devoted  to  religious  observance.  So  in  extremes,  or  when  immor- 
ality has  almost  extirpated  the  people,  it  may  also  be  observed  that 
the  grossest  superstition  and  the  most  devoted  duty  to  the  ritual  is 
the  rule  of  the  survivors.  The  escape  from  the  formality  of  faith  to 
freedom  and  reason  finds  man  in  the  middle  career.  He  comes  to 
this  point  at  or  near  the  highest  of  his  achievement  and  holds  to  it  at 
least  for  a  time  on  the  thus  far  inevitable  reaction. 

In  each  of  such  of  these  numerous  epochs  of  advance  and  retro- 
gression we  find  man  going  a  little  higher  in  his  glory  and  achieve- 
ment, and  falling  a  little  less  low  in  the  reaction.  On  the  whole 
then  man  must  be  advancing,  and  also  we  may  say  that  the  advance 
in  each  case  is  becoming  more  widely  diffused  and  affects  a  larger 
class. 

So  the  general  doctrines  of  the  faith  have  lived,  while  those  not 
appropriate  to  the  advance  or  change  of  society  have  been  overthrown 
or  left  as  dead  letters. 

In  matters  of  revealed  religion  a  facility  for  fraud  is  unfortunately 
found.  A  communion  with  God  may  be  claimed  by  any  one,  for 
such  communion  is  not  susceptible  of  scientific  proof  even  in  the 
admitted  saint.  We  cannot  secure  a  conformity  of  belief  in  any 
religious  dogma  similar  to  that  which  we  may  secure  for  the  law  of 
gravitation. 

The  first  is  a  declaration  incapable  of  demonstration,  while  the 
other  may  be  proved  without  regard  to  time  or  place,  and  cannot 
escape  reception  wherever  intelligence  has  reached  even  an  ordinary 
advance  above  the  most  primitive  types. 

The  old  dictionary  definition  of  religion  becomes  inadequate  to 
convey  any  enlarged  idea  of  religion.  "  Religion  is  a  belief  which 
induces  morality. ' '  This  definition  carries  with  it  the  idea  that  the 
morality  induced  requires  neither  political  law  nor  the  opinion  of 
society  for  its  practice. 

The  belief  that  religion  is  necessary  for  man,  together  with  the 
doubt  as  to  the  permanent  acceptance  of  any  religion  dependent  on 
faith  and  not  capable  of  demonstration,  is  the  cause  of  setting  forth 
these  views. 


Religion.  251 

What  we  need  is  a  religion  or  belief  capable  of  demonstration. 
Such  a  belief  is  the  one  I  offer  to  my  children.  It  is  the  body  im- 
mortality secured  by  reproduction. 

One  should  not  consider  the  immortality  of  the  body  through 
reproduction  to  be  in  any  conflict  with  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

The  one  is  a  belief  based  on  demonstrable  fact ;  the  other  is  a  faith 
founded  on  revelation.  A  belief  in  the  first  will  conduce  to  conduct 
that  will  insure  the  soul  salvation  of  the  second. 

In  an}^  case,  what  better  work  could  one  of  holy  life  do  than  to 
procreate  a  line  of  souls  to  be  saved  ?  Given  a  holy  life,  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  such  a  life  will  impress  the  progeny,  and  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  such  children  will  be  more  likely  to  be  saved 
through  goodness  than  the  children  of  bad  parents,  like,  let  us  say, 
the  children  of  the  celebrated  criminal  family  of  Juke  in  New  York. 
It  would  appear  then  that  the  holy  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with 
their  own  sterility  and  extermination,  leaving  the  world  to  the  domi- 
nation of  the  damned.  Such  a  course  would  certainly  diminish  the 
proportion  of  souls  saved  and  increase  the  proportion  of  souls  lost 
through  all  time. 

Good  conduct  without  faith  is  not  sufficient  for  soul  salvation 
according  to  most  religious  creeds,  but  faith  and  good  works  is 
according  to  all  a  good  combination.  Good  works  then  are  to  be 
encouraged,  and  those  who,  doing  good  works,  have  children  in  turn 
inclined  by  inherited  qualities  to  do  good  works,  should  be  encouraged 
in  reproduction. 

A  belief  in  a  possible  human  improvement  through  improvement 
of  one's  self,  perpetuated  and  intensified  in  one's  children,  each  gen- 
eration seeking  improvement  for  the  sake  of  improvement  in  the 
children  to  succeed  them,  and  so  on  toward  perfection,  may  help 
faith-religions,  and  certainly  has  no  element  to  hinder  them.  The 
Roman  Catholics  carry  out  my  ideas  in  this  respect  as  to  their  laity. 
Their  confessional  and  rules  for  the  married  oppose  all  practices 
leading  to  sterility  and  encourage  child-bearing.  The  care  with 
which  the  priesthood  seek  to  control  the  religious  training  of  the 
young  leaves  us  no  doubt  as  to  the  objects  of  their  rules  for  the 
wife.  Every  child  is  another  soul  to  be  saved,  and  another  glory 
to  the  Saviour. 

A  reward  or  punishment  for  good  or  evil  is  as  a  rule  felt  by  the 
individual,  immediately  as  well  as  remotely,  in  some  form  or  other. 
Our  deeds  and  thoughts  recorded  in  our  minds  and  bodies  for  good 
or  evil  and  going  to  modify  our  individuality  are  reflected  from  us 
and  appear  in  our  undefinable  expressions. 

Thus  persons  of  evil  life  but  beautiful  in  form  and  feature  repel 


252  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

us  and  become  ugly  from  the  thoughts  and  deeds  recorded  in  their 
expressions  ;  on  the  other  hand,  plain  persons  may  become  attrac- 
tive, nay  beautiful,  from  the  goodness  shining  out  of  them.  Every- 
one's deeds  and  life  are  to  be  found  in  their  expressions.  As  the 
face  is  deformed  by  evil  or  beautified  by  good  deeds,  so  also  is  the 
mind.  In  the  end  we  may  presume  that  a  perfect  beauty  of  face  and 
form  will  only  be  found  with  a  perfect  beauty  of  thought  and  action. 
Evil  diminishes  the  power  for  greatness.  It  weakens.  Truth  gives 
strength.  Our  mental  as  well  as  bodily  health  depends  on  our  being 
in  harmony  with  truth.  To  achieve  the  most  that  is  in  us  we  must 
be  moral.  This  motive  and  the  good  or  bad  opinion  of  society  are  not 
enough  to  make  an  earnest  belief  leading  to  good  deeds  and  away 
from  bad  ones. 

The  effect  of  our  actions  on  our  children  may  do  so  when  we  per- 
ceive the  results  of  our  morality  on  them  and  appreciate  the  renewed 
existence  achieved  in  progeny. 

Every  bad  thought  or  act  must  leave  its  trace  on  the  mind  or 
body,  and  lower  one's  renewed  life  in  any  subsequent  child.  Thus 
is  established  a  future  punishment.  This  punishment  can  be  proved 
as  certainly  as  can  the  doctrine  of  gravitation.  Every  good  and 
noble  thought  and  action  will  leave  its  trace  and  improve  one's  im- 
mortality in  the  subsequent  child.  Thus  is  established  future 
reward — a  reward  perfectly  provable. 

The  child  is  the  parents  united  and  renewed.  There  is  no  doubt 
of  this.  Here  then  is  a  sequence  of  demonstrable  beliefs  that  are  no 
more  attackable  than  is  the  revolution  of  the  earth  around  the  sun. 
These  beliefs  cannot  be  held  by  any  one  without  leading  to  a  desire 
for  immortality  in  the  child  and  to  a  desire  by  a  moral  life  to  improve 
oneself  as  renewed  in  the  child.  The  child  is  the  new  life  of  its 
parents.  It  is  their  immortality.  This  new  life  is  the  parents  fused. 
According  to  their  forces  the  parents'  life-renewal  will  be  good  or 
bad,  weak  or  strong.  The  parents  have  the  power  to  govern  this 
their  future  in  a  great  measure.  If  their  bodies  are  kept  in  health, 
the  presumption  is  for  bodily  health  in  the  child.  If  their  bodies  are 
diseased,  disease  must  be  expected  in  the  child.  So  also  in  matters 
of  the  mind:  we  may  have  health  and  strength  or  disease  and  weakness 
in  the  intellect  according  to  the  condition  of  the  parents.  Every- 
thing tells.  As  it  is  our  future  life,  our  immortality  that  is  at  stake, 
so  must  the  value  of  every  act  and  even  thought  become  appreciated. 
An  earnest  and  intense  life  devoted  to  improvement  is  more  produc- 
tive and  profitable  with  this  belief  than  with  any  other.  To  secure 
immortality  in  the  child  a  large  family  is  necessary  to  guard  against 
accident  and  inevitable  dangers.     A  large  family  is  one  of  the  best 


Religion.  253 

means  of  inducing  and  guarding  morality  that  we  have.  From  every 
point  of  view  it  would  appear  that  a  belief  in  the  spirit  or  soul,  as 
well  as  in  the  physical  likeness  of  the  child  to  the  parents,  giving  the 
idea  of  a  material  and  immediate  immortality,  the  condition,  hopes, 
and  future  of  which  depend  on  the  parents'  acts,  would  lead  to  a 
religious  life  with  high  aims  and  a  pure  morality. 

Life's  object  is  not  cultivation,  not  content,  not  wealth,  not  indi- 
vidual greatness.  It  is  the  development  of  power  for  progress  to  the 
future  of  perfection.  We  can  only  gain  this  through  the  child  from 
our  own  loins.  To  secure  this  improvement  of  self  in  the  child  our 
highest  capacities  must  be  used.  We  have  this  reason,  then,  aside 
from  any  other,  for  good  and  great  action.  Most  religions  preach 
content  either  here  or  in  a  heaven.  The  most  perfect  conception  of 
content  is  the  Nirvana  of  the  East,  and  the  nearest  approach  we  make 
to  it  in  life  is  in  sleep.  As  we  do  nothing  in  sleep,  so  we  do  nothing 
by  content.  Discontent  is  the  spur  of  progress.  Content  leads  to 
nothing.  It  cannot  exist  with  ambition  nor  even  with  any  desire  for 
improvement  for  such  desire  must  grow  from  discontent.  This  fre- 
quent idea  in  religion  must  be  denounced.  Teach  every  one  to  look 
for  and  glory  in  discontent,  and  still  to  use  its  power  with  due  discre- 
tion. Declamatory  discontent  in  small  household  or  personal  matters 
is  an  error  so  complete  as  to  come  close  to  crime  ;  while  discontent 
in  large  things  is  the  spur  to  improvement. 

All  living  religions  have  a  great  deal  that  is  good  and  useful  in 
them  to  the  peoples  and  conditions  where  they  are  received.  Con- 
sequently missionary  work  to  replace  one  with  another  where  the 
people's  conditions  are  not  the  same  is  of  doubtful  value.  The  rule 
shotdd  be  to  let  people's  religions  alone. 

The  form  of  any  religion  may  be  followed  that  does  not  interfere 
with  or  discourage  reproduction.  Any  doctrine  of  this  latter  kind 
should  be  condemned  out  of  hand  in  your  own  family.  One  may, 
however,  preach  with  perfect  propriety  a  religion  to  those  who  have 
none.  A  large  proportion  of  Americans  have  no  religion.  Thus  it 
is  seen  that  in  our  country  there  is  an  ample  field  for  missionary 
work. 

The  missionary  work  most  essential  in  America  for  its  material 
welfare  is  something  in  the  line  of  this  work.  We  certainly  could 
spread  with  advantage  some  doctrine  that  would  diminish  divorce, 
that  woiild  make  marriage  happier,  and  that  would  secure  our  patriot- 
ism in  the  expectation  that  the  generations  succeeding  us  will  be 
Americans  not  only  in  name  but  by  descent  from  our  own  loins. 

Immortality  in  the  child  is  a  fact.  Its  thorough  conception  upon 
the  highest  plane  cannot  but  lead  to  good. 


254  '^^^  Conquest  of  Death, 

Never  be  a  monk,  a  fakir,  or  a  fool ;  but  have  children  and 
assure  your  continued  life  and  continued  youth  and  participation 
in  future  glory.  It  cannot  be  that  the  death  we  see  striking  right  and 
left  and  which  we  know  will  one  day  strike  us,  will  kill  completeh". 
No,  if  we  follow  the  road  God  has  marked  out  we  will  gain  immor- 
tality and  we  will  not  die.  We  may  catch  a  glimpse  of  that  road 
that  our  poor  senses  can  comprehend  and  realize  and  believe.  It  is 
our  children.  I  hope  for  other  immortality,  but  this  I  understand 
and  can  harmonize  with  what  I  know  of  what  has  taken  place  and 
what  is  taking  place. 

Every  one  should  have  a  religion.  Religion  is  necessary  to  every 
one.  Intellect  makes  religion  possible,  and  with  each  increase  of 
brain  in  man  true  religion  may  become  truer  and  stronger.  Its  forms 
are  many  and  are  suited  to  the  intellectual  grasp  of  those  who  hold 
them,  though  not  alwaj^s  best  suited  to  their  changing  conditions 
and  to  their  progress.  Religious  forms,  like  all  the  institutions  of 
man  and  more  than  any  of  the  others,  tend  to  fixity  and  oppose 
change. 

Whatever  form  religion  takes,  it  is  but  an  expression  of  the 
universal  craving  of  man  for  something  better,  purer,  and  grander 
than  he  at  present  knows.  When  the  forms  have  been  pervxrted  and 
used  by  the  designing  for  their  own  profit  and  aggrandizement,  we 
must  overlook  these  passing  defects,  and  study  the  reason  and  core 
of  the  religion  which  is  afilicted  by  them.  Religion  has  been  and  will 
be  an  important  aid  to  the  progress  of  mankind.  True  religion  is 
devoted  to  truth,  and  is  capable  of  any  sacrifice  to  find  it  and  secure 
it.  Too  often,  alas,  truth  has  been  opposed  by  corrupt  and  antiquated 
forms  whose  followers  arrogated  to  themselves  to  be  the  onlj^  religion. 
Every  real  scientific  man  is  a  light  of  religion  and  has  a  heart  full  of 
it  though  he  may  follow  no  creed  or  form. 

While  some  are  capable  of  thus  standing  alone,  and  by  so  stand- 
ing gain  in  breadth  and  power,  in  mental  grasp  and  feeling,  the 
great  mass  of  mankind  is  still  doubtless  dependent  on  form.  In 
Hgypt  the  instructed  priests  had  a  religion  for  themselves  involving 
a  belief  in  one  God,  and  for  the  people  another  with  many  allegorical 
forms  and  many  gods.  The  conditions  justifying  this,  if  they  ever 
existed,  still  exist,  for  even  where  the  nominal  forms  are  the  same,  as 
in  the  Catholic  Church,  the  different  grades  of  people  adhering  to 
that  faith  have  created  a  practically  different  religion  within  the  fold 
each  for  itself.  Thus  we  have  the  extremes  of  the  Neapolitan  devo- 
tee of  St.  Januarius  demanding  the  liquefaction  of  the  dead  saint's 
blood  on  pain  of  stoning  his  statue,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the 


Religion.  255 

other,  St.  George  Mivart,  the  scientific  writer,  holding  for  a  freedom 
of  research  that  would  have  called  for  excommunication  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 

So  forms  must  exist  for  a  long  time  yet,  and  they  are  still  neces- 
;sary.     Reverence  these  then  for  that  of  which  they  are  the  emblem. 

In  the  Hindoo  religion  there  is  held  a  doctrine  of  progression. 
The  sinner  at  death  according  to  his  sin  goes  back  in  the  chain  of 
evolution  and  recommences  life  in  some  animal,  to  return  to  man 
again  only  after  ages  of  probation. 

In  my  doctrine  there  is  but  one  sin  that  so  condemns  man.  This 
is  the  absence  of  progeny.  A  sterile  man  or  woman  at  death  is  the 
unpardonable  sinner.  Ages  of  progress  have  combined  the  atoms  in 
him  or  her  in  a  wonderful  complexity,  and  given  them  an  identity 
which  we  may  call  soul,  together  with  a  capacity  for  reproduction 
and  improvement.  The  sterile  in  exterminating  themselves  shatter 
this,  the  work  of  ages,  and  sin  beyond  redemption. 

Like  the  Hindoo,  the  religions  of  the  past  and  of  to-day  have 
much  to  admire  and  to  imitate. 

While  I  counsel  reverence  to  religious  form,  I  equally  counsel 
you  to  avoid  it  as  a  faith.  The  danger  of  all  religious  forms  is  that 
man  so  often  comes  to  regard  the  form  as  the  religion.  When  this 
happens  man's  spirit  dwindles,  progress  stops,  and  religion  is  lost. 
Let  form,  as  a  faith,  alone  in  religion,  for  it  is  but  the  skin  of  it. 
Make  truth  the  guiding  star  of  your  lives,  and  never  fear  to  follow 
where  it  leads.  Immortality  by  the  child  is  the  core  for  your 
religion. 

A  great  deal  of  the  religious  thought  of  man  has  been  devoted  to 
things  he  knew  nothing  about.  As  might  be  supposed,  dogmas 
about  unknowable  subjects  were  incapable  of  securing  the  unity  of 
faith  we  have,  as  has  been  said,  in  the  law  of  gravitation.  The  bit- 
terest contest,  the  bloodiest  wars,  and  the  most  cruel  tortures  have 
been  caused  by  religious  disputes  about  subjects  which  neither  side 
had  any  capacity  of  comprehending. 

/  We  can  neither  think  of  God  nor  picture  to  ourselves  what  such 
a  being  could  be,  nor  can  we  think  of  the  universe  without  a  cause 
and  without  a  commencement,  and  here  again  we  are  confronted 
with  the  unthinkable  character  of  a  first  cause  without  a  beginning 
and  without  a  cause.  So  we  find  ourselves  in  a  vicious  circle,  in 
which  the  complacent  ass  may  trudge  blindfolded  by  dogmatic  state- 
ment, but  from  which  the  wise  man  will  flee. 

The  defect,  to  my  mind,  in  most  modem  religions  is  that  they 
deal  too  much  with  another  world  of  which  we  know  nothing,  and 


256  The  Conquest  of  Death, 

neglect  a  study  of  present  conditions,  which  are  capable  of  compre- 
hension. Some  of  these,  to  me  idle  doctrines,  may  have  done  good. 
For  instance,  the  dogma,  so  frequently  found,  of  a  hell  or  place  of 
everlasting  torture  in  which  worldly  sin  will  be  punished,  may  have 
prevented  the  ignorant  from  sins  that  otherwise  would  have  been 
committed.  A  great  deal  of  ingenuity  has  been  devoted  to  picturing 
the  kinds  of  punishment  that  would  take  place  in  this  unending  hell, 
of  which  we  are  all  perfectly  and  completely  ignorant.  Milton  knew 
nothing  of  it,  nor  did  Dante,  nor  does  any  one.  The  things  we  know 
of  sin  and  its  punishment  would  better  occupy  us  than  such  idle 
speculations. 

If  we  sin  against  nature  we  are  always  punished  :  first,  directly 
in  this  world ;  and  secondly,  again  in  all  children  conceived  subse- 
quent to  the  sin,  we  are  still  punished  and  still  in  this  world.  Each 
act  of  ours  and,  doubtless  too,  our  thoughts  are  at  every  moment 
moulding  us  and  giving  a  stamp  which  will  pass  to  our  children. 
A  drunkard's  child  must  suffer  for  its  father's  sin  ;  thus  the  drimkard 
again  suffers  in  his  child  what  he  at  first  suffered  in  himself. 

It  seems  tome  that  this  doctrine,  so  easily  proven,  would  be  more 
conducive  to  morality  than  some  fantastic  picture  of  a  sulphurous 
pit  without  bottom,  and  which,  after  all,  may  be  avoided  by  acts  of 
repentance.  With  innumerable  short  cuts  from  the  broad  path  full 
of  pleasure  to  the  narrow,  thorny  way,  there  is  little  wonder  that  the 
business  man  takes  all  the  broad  path  and  forbidden  pleasure  consist- 
ent with  taking  the  last  possible  short  cut  to  the  straight  and  disa- 
greeable path.  His  position  in  heaven  is  rather  improved  than 
otherwise  by  such  a  course.     The  truth  is,  nature  never  forgives. 

For  what  you  do  you  must  take  the  consequences.  There  is  no 
repentance  that  can  avoid  the  results  of  deeds  already  done.  The 
best  that  we  can  do  is,  by  wise  deeds  to  counteract  the  results  of  fool- 
ish ones,  and,  as  we  live  and  learn,  to  suppress  the  foolish  deeds  and  do 
only  wise  ones.  A  man  knowing  that  his  act  of  sin  is  a  permanent 
injury  to  him  and  stamps  and  lowers  his  character  will  avoid  such  sin 
much  more  than  if  he  believed  that  some  subsequent  act  could 
entirely  wi^e  away  its  results. 

There  is  other  sin  than  sin  against  nature.  This  is  sin  against 
society,  and  it  may  be  against  a  written  or  an  unwritten  regulation 
of  man  made  for  the  general  good.  The  punishment  of  a  sin  against 
the  laws  and  customs  of  man,  but  which  is  not  a  sin  against  nature, 
is  to  a  considerable  extent  dependent  on  whether  it  is  found  out,  but 
not  altogether.  We  are  generally  educated  and  impressed  from 
youth  up  with  the  necessity  of  observing  the  regulations  of  the 


Religion,  257 

society  in  which  we  live,  and  we  consequently  suffer  more  in  con- 
science from  a  violation  of  man's  rules  than  we  do  from  a  violation 
of  nature'?  Thus  we  may  suffer  much  from  a  sin  against  society 
though  it  ■  >e  not  found  out.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  many,  in  fact 
most,  sins  igainst  society  are,  if  not  injurious  to  oneself  directly,  at 
least  so  to  meself  renewed  in  the  child.  An  injury  to  society,  the 
medium  uj  on  the  conservation  of  which  our  social  activity  depends, 
must  eventually  injure  us  in  our  descendants.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  dovetailing  between  these  two  classes  of  sins,  but  attention  is  called 
to  the  difference  now  because  the  unforgivable  and  most  fatal  sins — 
that  is,  those  against  nature — are  often  considered  venial,  while  the 
less  important  and  not  necessarily  injurious  sins — that  is,  those 
against  the  rules  of  man — are  considered  as  serious  or  deadly. 

Thus  a  man  or  woman  who  spreads  syphilis  is  left  free  to  curse 
generations  that  follow  them.  Constitutional  and  preventible  diseases 
are  spread  broadcast  every  day,  and  those  committing  this  sin  against 
nature  are  termed  in  society,  if  any  attention  is  paid  to  the  circum- 
stance, unfortunate.  On  the  other  hand,  a  hungry  person  taking  a 
loaf  of  bread  is  jailed,  and  a  man  walking  into  a  field  that  some  one 
has  enclosed  and  calls  his  by  a  convention  of  society  is  arrested  for 
trespass.  Religion  should  deal  with  those  sins,  and  they  the  most 
fatal,  with  which  man  has  been  unable  to  cope  by  law. 

The  present  system  of  ethics  has  many  points  susceptible  of  im- 
provement. Such  a  rule,  for  instance,  as  the  one  that  a  wife  who 
has  an  ' '  incompatibility  of  temper  "  is  a  sinner  and  may  be  divorced, 
while  a  wife  who  refuses  to  bear  children,  or  is  incapable  of  having 
them,  is  all  right,  and  against  her  fatal  sin — her  sin  that  exterminates 
both  herself  and  her  husband — the  husband  has  no  remedy,  is  the 
ruling  of  the  monumental  ass. 

Children  are  a  religion  for  any  one.  To  improve  your  own  life  as 
renewed  in  the  child  is,  when  understood,  a  motive  that  will  draw 
from  evil  and  lead  to  the  true  and  good.  As  soon  as  a  human  being 
thoroughly  realizes  that  every  excess  and  every  crime  must  be  ex- 
piated by  the  child,  and  perhaps  by  the  child's  child  of  his  or  her 
own  loins,  for  many  generations,  such  aberrations  will  become  rare. 
And  equally,  when  knowing  the  character  stamp  of  good  acts  and 
noble  thoughts,  and  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  improve- 
ment in  the  child's  nature  by  such  improvements  in  one's  self,  a 
human  being  must  attach  an  importance  to  a  sound  and  true  life  that 
nothing  else  will  give. 

Every  true  man  has  a  religion.  Every  such  person  has  a  standard 
of  right,  which  is  followed  irrespective  of  direct  enforcement.     In 


258  '  The   Conquest  of  Death, 

fact,  practically  all  humanity  has  such  a  standard,  though  it  be  nar- 
row, or  perhaps  bad  for  the  general  public.  We  have  honor  even 
amongst  thieves.  A  man  without  religion  is  a  man  without  sym- 
pathy. He  is  like  an  oak  with  the  heart  rotted  out.  He  may  be  fair 
externally,  but  he  is  a  sepulchre  within.  He  can  only  stand  in  fine 
weather  ;  when  the  storm  comes  he  will  be  beaten  down. 

For  success  we  must  have  earnestness.  For  earnestness  we  must 
have  a  belief.  Therefore,  to  use  our  capacities  to  their  best,  we  need 
a  religion.  It  may  be  in  heaven,  in  hell,  in  liberty,  in  honor,  as  in 
the  days  of  chivalry,  or  what  not.  But  some  overmastering  motive 
from  belief  in  something  we  must  have  for  the  full  realization  of  our 
possibilities. 

This  Religion  of  Children  offers  such  a  motive.  A  religious  man 
in  this  view  is  one  with  a  high  standard  of  right,  which  he  follows, 
without  the  compulsion  of  written  or  unwritten  law,  for  the  sake  of 
himself  in  his  child.  The  basis  of  this  true  religion  is  life,  its  con- 
tinuance, and,  above  all,  its  improvement.  This  true  religion  fol- 
lowed is  to  so  live  that  the  noble  thoughts  and  good  acts  of  our  lives 
will  be  ingrained  in  our  children  by  inheritance,  and  place  them 
upon  a  plane  from  which  improved  lives  will  flow.  So  by  reproduc- 
tion we  multiply  and  may  improve  our  life  and  fasten  fortune  for  the 
future.  It  is  in  our  children,  ourselves  renewed  and  immortalized, 
that  we  have  tangible  means  of  enjoying  true  religion. 

A  person  without  children  exterminates  himself,  and,  as  far  as  he 
is  concerned,  has  no  chance  to  perpetuate  or  to  improve  the  life-flame 
confided  to  his  care.  This  is  the  unpardonable  sin.  It  is  the 
blackest  in  the  category.  For  sterility  there  is  neither  repentance 
nor  forgiveness.  The  spirit  of  the  father  or  mother  passes  on  in  the 
child  to  do  the  work  of  perfecting  humanity,  and  to  carry  the  father 
and  mother  on  for  countless  ages  to  pick  the  fruit  from  the  lives 
whose  seeds  planted  in  the  unfathomed  past  have  been  so  long  strug- 
gling toward  perfection.  The  spirit  of  the  sterile  is  thrust  by  death 
into  outer  darkness. 

Religion  demands  the  child.  Children  are  a  religion.  The  home 
is  the  holy  of  holies.  It  is  the  true  church.  The  parent  is  the  priest. 
Immortality  is  in  the  child,  and  paradise  is  the  perfection  to  which 
by  procreation  we  progress  without  plan  or  perception. 

Has  not  the  time  come  when  a  plan  is  possible  ?  L<et  us  believe 
it.  We  can  with  such  a  belief  take  the  world  and  its  details  into  a 
broad  conception,  and  instead  of  being  sunk  into  ruts  of  routine  or 
confused  in  complex  circumstance,  we  may  treat  the  incidents  of  life 
as  the  means  through  the  child  to  reach  to  gladness  and  to  glory. 


Religion,  259 

When  the  human  ^%%  is  fertilized  the  Phoenix  is  rampant.  In 
reproduction  we  deride  the  dark  demon  of  death.  Hope  and  youth 
and  life  are  bom  again  in  the  child.  With  each  new  flame  of  life, 
with  each  new  descendant,  we  renew  ourselves  in  reproduction. 
With  each  new  child  we  create  a  new  sun  and  system  in  the  heavens 
of  our  immortality,  and  by  so  much  are  we  fixed  faster  in  this 
firmament  of  fortime. 


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